The Light in the Darkness
by Razoreagle k'Leshya
Summary: One of the few Stories to come with a Foreword, the detestable mind of Razoreagle k'Leshya now presents a tale of laughable proportions and a good amount of fan service for minds nerdy, pervy, and violenty tended. (That was a joke of course.) With that said, this is not a tail for the faint of heart, as this story is as dark as a foggy night in a dense forest. You were warned!
1. Foreword

Hey everyone, Razoreagle k'Leshya here. Don't go away just yet! Keep with me to the end, and I promise it'll be worth your time. This is something of an introduction to ease you readers in, see if you're ready to get in the bulk of my story here. This is my first story, so _Constructive Criticism only if you're going to criticize_. And if you're going to leave a review, remember that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it unless you plan to PM me, alright? Keep It Clean. That said, Let's get right into it.

Just so you lot are aware, I am currently running a poll to help reduce my upcoming writer's block to a manageable amount. Please check my profile for further details. That said, this Foreword is going to help give you guys a sense of what to expect with this particular story in terms of who the characters are, and what the story will entail. Beginning with the last thing first, the story is a warning about how little you actually know about anyone, including yourself. It's also a warning that anyone can change in any number of different ways in varying degrees of severity, even if you think that they can't. And lastly, it's a message stating that anyone can make a sizeable difference in the lives of others.

As for the characters dominating this story...

Elizabeth "Liz" Infernus: A young Kronosite Tiefling whose blindness allows her to see the truth, no matter what. Visual deceptions cannot sway or even affect her, as she cannot see them to begin with. She is an orphan at the story's beginning.

Naga, Queen of Serpentia: Elizabeth's adoptive mother, and the sole survivor of her people and kingdom. Was good friends with Elizabeth's grandfather, considering him to be the first father she had known in a long time. She is the leader of a faction known as the Vennominaga Sect when the story begins.

Zordrake Talon Infernus: The father of one son and three daughters, and has two granddaughters, including Elizabeth. At the story's beginning, he is a ryu kitsune, or Xordrayk, meaning that he has powers equivalent to a demigod or minor god. Zordrake is a skilled combatant, utilizing a vast array of weaponry, including a grand majority of the more conventional weapons found in media, including shotguns, bazookas, swords, and rifles, in addition to less conventional weaponry like the lightsaber and Duel Disk. A skilled strategist, Zordrake is ruthless in combat, even utilizing the forbidden seventh form of lightsaber combat. Off the battlefield however, Zordrake is a kind and caring family man and teacher. His past continues to haunt him, however...

Captain Sans Gestell Schaedel: "Old Roger Himself." Literally Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean mixed with Undertale's Papyrus and Sans Skeleton in terms of personality and appearance. Has accomplished a number of comically interesting feats in his time as a revenant, including playing the trombone in spite of a very clear absence of working lips on his mouth (kinda hard to play the trombone without 'em), and having acquired all of his children long after his death had come to be forgotten. A jokester of a pirate, his wrath is said to be terrible to witness and to be on the receiving end of it is even worse, to the point where even onlookers flee at the sight of his eyes glowing...

Natalie Natteschlaenge: A green-scaled Serpentian, this free spirited young woman is to the wind as lightning is to thunder. A powerful Mind Healer, this girl has a reputation as one of the most outgoing members of the Serpentian Royal Guard. Just beware of how you recieve her venom...

Gearmangaia Fireheight: A female Kronosite Mantidian with a kind heart. Somewhat scatterbrained at times, her heart is always somehow in the right place.

Gearinferno Reptirus "Reptile" Fireheight: One of the Serpentian Royal Guard's two residential sentient swamp lizards, and oldest living member of the Fireheight family when the story begins. Reptirus is possessed of a strong sense of honor which is usually hidden by his easy-going personality. Being Dovahkiin, Reptirus has a massive amount of power at his disposal, including a number of powerful forms which he utilizes during combat. Reptirus is easily powerful enough to challenge the Kronosite Dragon King and the mythical Bowsersaurus Rexus Seismoraptor, two of the most powerful beings in the entire omniverse, being possessed of near god-level strength and power.

Spirit Fireheight: A Batman fangirl who actually goes so far as to become a superpowered detective like the caped crusader himself. A Gotham city native, she is accustomed to the strange goings on in her home town, and has actually befriended Killer Croc before the story even begins! She quickly ends up befriending Liz and Geartank when the story begins...

Mara "Shedrake" Syx: Said to be a coldrake with the body of a human, this no nonsense Healer from the kingdom of Valdemar has quite a track record for being the most infamous individual engaged in the medical proffesion in Shallow City on account of the fact that such terrors as Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes, the Black Xordrayk, and Gestell all fear her wrath on account of the saying in Valdemar that a Healer knows how you're put together, and can take you apart in any fashion they so choose...

This story has a number of different settings, including the familiar Earthland Fiore, Gotham City, and Star Wars universe, in addition to the unexplored territory of Shadow Island, with Shallow City dominating the eastern shoreline of the island, and a massive mountain occupying the west. Shallow City melds the Tayledras Vales found in Velgarth with the more modern towns of our world. And last but not least, this story is a melding of all the franchises which I've adored during my school years. Well, most of them anyway. With that said, be sure to check out my profile for the latest updates on this series! In the meantime however, how about spending some time the story's mascot?

_*Cat-like ears perk up excitedly*_ "Razor, you didn't!" Oh, yes I did, kiddo. Would you just do your thing already, everybody wants to see you. "Oh, alright then. When you put it that way, I suppose I must." _*Excited Purring*_ "Hey all! The name's Black Tiger! If you'd like congratulations for making it this far, well, this here's your reward. No need to pout though. Let me tell you, I'm just one of the girls who has an evil beginning, only to end up one of the good guys. In other words, I'm a bad girl which you won't mind joining your company if you don't mind big cats. You'll see me soon enough. We promise."

Jeez, talk about being something of a letdown. Oh well, I guess we'll have to make up for that in the next chapter. And don't worry about saying goodbye, I'm sure we'll all be doing this again soon enough. Until then, _zhai'helluva und se ono sverdar sitja hvass!_


	2. Chapter 1: A Hawk's Sacrifice

"Corporal? Corporal! Come on, wake up man! Show some life here!" "Shuddup, Bulldog! I'm awake!" _Something doesn't feel right. Why are there feathers all over my body?_ "Corporal, you gonna be alright?" "Yeah, I'll be fine, Lieutenant. Di-what happened to me!?" "I... I'm not sure. I'm fine, obviously. But you, on the other hand, wound up looking like a red tailed hawk!" "That explains it." _Now where... Aha. Let's see about making use of this. _ "Hey, what're you doing with that club, Corporal!?" "Lieutenant Bulldog, this is no mere club. Now once I determine the triggering mechani-" KAPOW! _Ow. That was loud. I'm counting myself lucky if that didn't just alert the whole facility to our jail break. Eh, Just grab that and_ "We're outa here, Lt."  
_Huh. Definitely some sort of facility. _ "Hey! Drop your weapons at onc-" Gurgle! _That takes care of that. I wonder... Am I a_ tervardi_? Only one way to find out... *HEEEEELLLLPP!* Giyouch! *What's your status, lass!?* Painfearpanic! *I'll get you out of there, even if I have to drag you out by whatever extremities you happen to have!* Ugh. That came out more comically than I intended. At least I startled her into amusement for a moment. At least now I know that I'm a_ tervardi.

Deeper into the facility... _ Huh. Good thing I had Bulldog wait back at the armory. This place is a labyrinth. *Captain. I have news. One of our crew members has gone missing looking for the source of the disturbance. What is the advised course of action?* Sucker. I'm not your Captain, but I'll play along. *How about looking for yourself then? It was clearly a mistake for you send someone else. Oh, and make sure to put everything you have into eliminating the source of the disturbance if and when you should find it.* Out. That solves my navigation issue. Thanks for the intel, fool. Hmmm. There's the girl who Mindspoke me earlier. How about that. Looks like I'm on a rescue operation._

Corporal Talon, upon finding out that he and Lt. Bulldog are aboard a massive inter-dimensional warship which was intended for multidimensional conquest, he set out to free all of the prisoners aboard the ship by disguising acoustic mines as inconspicuous packages containing lunch for the prisoners in question. Alongside the acoustic mines, he left in the packages special headsets which where designed to counteract the powerful sound-waves produced by the acoustic mines. Sagitta (a female raven _tervardi_), was the first individual he visited, with the guard reacting to his appearance in an unexpected fashion. "Hey, Red-Tail. Howzit?" the minotaur said in greeting. Talon, managing to keep one eyebrow from disappearing into his non-existent hairline while the other one was irked as a result, managed to somehow spout the appropriate response. "That you, Bull?" The minotaur nodded, prompting Talon to continue "I was just here to give the prisoners luncheon, is all. Mind poppin' 'er open for me? Captain's orders." Bull obliged while warning Talon that many of the prisoners were very well capable of beating him to a pulp. Talon merely replied "Thanks for the heads, Bull. I'll keep tha' in mind." Sagitta proved to be rather suspicious of him at first, but a telepathic private message was all it took to get the performance he needed to get the job done without raising a modicum of suspicion.

Dyna (a massive and muscular man-lion) was surprisingly cooperative in his performance, even putting the cherry on top by calling "And no thanks for the eats!" in contempt. Beat, Folgo, Donpa, Recon (all of whom were what appeared to be some sort of kobold), Seal (a mustachioed doggo), Bravo (some sort of desert lizard), Philo (a female canary _tervardi_), Helmer (a fish/human hybrid), and Rafael (a bipedal four-winged dragon) all were visited by Talon in succession, with varied performances befitting their disposition. After reaching the female who'd reveal her presence to the Corporal, he discovered that her name was Wiz, and was the last one to be mutated into a human/animal hybrid out of the ones held prisoner. Talon was of mixed feelings about the fact that Wiz was being turned into a creature that was equal parts Octopus and human in terms of appearance, in addition to receiving both physical and psychological trauma to fully become part of the Captain's crew. Acting fast, Talon set up a shield of sorts around Wiz's mind, temporarily rendering her unconscious while protecting her from any further trauma, causing the busybodies monitoring the procedure to chafe with disappointment at Wiz's seeming lack in resilience. Noticing Talon, said busybody immediately demanded identification, to which Talon's only response was a powerful hawk's battle cry augmented with a short-range telepathic equivalent, causing the scientist's to collapse, unconscious. Helping a now-conscious Wiz to her feet, Talon then telepathically instructed the others whom he had given packages to use the equipment that he had given them, while ensuring he and Wiz were sufficiently protected in the process. In the ensuing chaos, Talon, Wiz, and all the rest met with Lt. Bulldog in the ship's Armory. Talon then explained that he planned to eliminate the ship while they escaped via the escape pods. Despite some protest, Corp. Talon insisted that someone had to by the others time to escape and destroy the warship. The plan was then enacted.

Near the engine room... "Here goes nothing. Another thankless task which needs to be done by yours truly. Oh well." _Might as well recall that old number "Infinite" in case the captain barges in on me._ "What's this, now? A foolish cretin wishing to sabotage my ship?" "Yes indeed, Shark-face. I'm going to stop this right here, right now." "Your funeral. You'll have died for nothing. You can't stop me, no one can." "That's what they always say, only for the adversary in question to prove them wrong. And, just like Hannibal Smith from the A-Team, let me have enough time and the right resources, and I'm unstoppable." "Shark-face" scoffed, reiterating his previous statement, adding that Talon was too late, before asking what he was doing on his ship. It was Talon's turn to scoff as he told the Captain that he should know how as he was one of the one's experimented on. After hearing Talon's human description, the Captain shot back that he was in a cell waiting for experimentation. Talon decided enough was enough, saying the captain couldn't catch a corpse, which actually provoked the captain into the attack. Talon was ready for this moment.

"_I'm the tallest of mountains, I am the roughest of waves, I'm the toughest of terrors, I am the darkest of days! I am the last one that's standing, don't try to stand in my way, 'cause I've been up against better, just take a look at my face! 'Cause if you're messing with me, I am a dangerous weapon. I am the sharpest of blades, I'll cut you down in a second! 'Cause I was born in this pain! It only hurts if you let it. So if you think you can take me, then you should go and forget it! And after all this time, you're back for more! I won't stop until they know my name! So I'll take what's mine, and start this war. I'm coming at you like a tidal wave!_" Talon sings "_When everything you know has come and gone, (You are at your lowest, I am rising higher!) only scars remain of who I was! (What I find in the ashes, you lose in the fire!) When there's no one left to carry on (This is an illusion! Open up your eyes and..) This pain persists, I can't resist, but that's what it takes to be infinite!_" Talon stops singing. "_So look around you and tell me what you really see. I never end and that's the difference in you and me. 'Cause when your time is up and everything is falling down, it's only me and you, who is gonna save you now? So look around you and tell me what you really see. You live a lie and that's the difference in you and me. I have the power, let me show what it's all about! It's only me and you, who is gonna save you now?_" Talon pauses, and then repeats "_Who is gonna save you now?_" With a look of earth shattering defiance, Talon continues his bid for fear and intimidation to weaken his opponents before the fight even begins. Before his assailants can even blink however, blood suddenly starts spraying from previously non-existent wounds, causing all but "Shark-face" to collapse, dead as door nails on the floor. Talon smiles maliciously at his remaining foe, and resumes his psychological attack on his remaining foe.

"_I am the tallest of mountains, and don't you ever forget it. If you step in the ring, then your gonna regret it. 'Cause if you're messing with me, then you should know that it's over. I don't crumble for nothing, I've got the world on my shoulders. And after all this time, you're back for more? (I won't stop until they know my name!) So I'll take what's mine, and start this war._" Talon once again sings. "_When everything you know has come and gone, (You are at you're lowest, I am rising higher!) only scars remain of who I was! (What I find in the ashes, you lose in the fire!) When there's no one left to carry on, (This an illusion, open up your eyes and..) this pain persists, I can't resist, but that's what it takes to be INFINITE!_" Talon stops singing, and finishes "_So look around you, and tell me what you really see. I never end, and that's the difference in you and me! 'Cause when your time is up and everything is falling down, it's only me and you, who is gonna save you now? So look around you and tell me what you really see. You live a lie and that's the difference in you and me! 'Cause I have the power, let me show you what it's all about! It's only me and you, who is gonna save you now?_" Talon pauses briefly, and then repeats one final time "_Who is gonna save you now?_" Talon then screams like a hawk as loudly as he can manage, both verbally and mentally, swinging his weapons down and triggering them upon impact with the floor.

Talon is never seen or heard from again afterwards, having sacrificed his existence on the mortal plane to allow the omniverse to never know the danger it might have faced, fighting for his beliefs. May Corporal Talon rest in peace, wherever he may be.

* * *

A/N: For those of you wondering, the _tervardi _is not the main character. No, this is just a last bit of story to help Everything tie together for at least one of the story lines in this massive project. Polls are open at this chapter's posting for anyone who wants to influence the story as a whole. And there's always room for cameos and shout outs in these various chapters. Chapter 2: The Black Xordrayk Appears will be published when the first poll completes. Credit goes to Tyler Smith and Andy Bane for the song "Infinite" from the Sonic Forces Soundtrack. Please check my profile for the latest updates and information. And until then, _zhai'helluva_!


	3. Chapter 2: The Black Xordrayk appears

The crowd cheered excitedly for the performance. This particular crowd knew a good performance when they heard one. But Elizabeth Infernus knew how to read the crowd quite well by this time, after all, this wasn't her first performance. It didn't matter to them that she was alien in terms of appearance, they'd seen her perform often. Liz was considered a pop idol by them, and right now, they wanted one more song before they left the tavern. So Liz decided to bring in a new song which felt to her like an old favorite. When the music started playing without any instruments in evidence, the crowd quieted. This was a trick which Liz had often made use of for a number of different purposes: Sonarkinesis, the psychic manipulation of sound waves. Of course, what made Liz so endearing to the crowd was the fact that she used this ability to great effect, creating accompaniments when there were none, allowing her to effectively solo run pieces which would otherwise require additional performers to effectively pull off. And Liz knew how to please a crowd. With a new piece that she happened to quite well favor.

* * *

The crowd was ecstatic. Liz smiled in spite of herself. She might be alien to them, but she saw all kinds of critters when she looked at them. Liz was blind, physically, but that very blindness was overcome by Liz's peculiar way of seeing things. It was a kind of sight which disallowed visual deceptions. As a result, Liz was able to utilize her ability to become invisible to all visual and audio detections as well as most olfactory detections without any problems arising as a result. She even became invisible to telepathic detection when using this ability. With a dramatic flair, Liz exercised this ability of hers, vanishing as if an apparition.

Liz enjoyed giving performances. She could put everything into a performance, and not be worried about anything but pleasing the crowd. After all, when she performed, she didn't have to think about her past. A past, which, was little more than a nightmare branded in her memory. Liz looked about, hidden amidst the crowd. Everyone was otherwise occupied discussing her performance on this night. Liz looked at the total earnings for the night's performance, and smiled. She would be treating herself on this night.

At the _Hell's Bane Tavern_, the scum of the criminal underground freely mingled with the working class. And there was an unspoken rule in the tavern: Get caught roughing anybody up in any way, shape, or form, and you're officially banned from the tavern on a permanent basis. Liz loved the place, she could drink whatever she wanted as long as she had the money to do so, and no one at the tavern minded her being there. Better still, the barkeeps, servers and bouncers allowed her to stay in the tavern as long as she liked, so she was content to do so. One thing to be said about the _Hell's Bane_, though. It attracted all kinds. And all of the tavern's customers were content to see Liz happy and safe from the terrors which could, and often did, muscle their way in on the _Hell's Bane_. The only problem with trying to muscle in on the _Hell's Bane Tavern_ was the fact that the more dishonest customers were very protective of the tavern, and there just so happened to be a number of local law enforcers who saw to it that the tavern was well protected and a convenient place to pick up leads on tricky cases which needed solving.

Liz sat herself down on her accustomed stool, still warm from while the pickpocket who had befriended her during her first visit to the tavern had been sitting on it while specifically waiting for her to show. This pickpocket was notorious in the criminal underground for having exotic tastes of the usual varieties, and he used that reputation to ensure that everyone knew that Liz was off limits. "So how was tonight's catch?" Liz smiled at her friend and ordered a full meal, complete with her usual drink: An orange-kiwi-banana-berry smoothie. The pickpocket smiled in response, saying "So you had a profitable evening, then. Good on ye." Liz tucked into her supper when it arrived after saying grace, and then noticed something peculiar after finishing the last vestiges of her meal. "So who's the street performer?" The pickpocket frowned. "Bad news. He was looking for you. Worse still, he's no mere street performer. That there's one of the worst mages in the business. I'm surprised he hasn't already been kicked out. He reeks of malice. I'll see if I can't manage to give you an opening, alright?"

Liz was able to slip out of the main room unseen thanks to her ability to disappear at will from most forms of detection. She thanked the fact that she was particularly cautious about how she exited the main room, as she didn't want to be caught by this mage. He had the appearance of a serpent on the prowl to her sight, all of the worst ones had the appearance of a dragon or serpent, whereas everyone else didn't. Liz escaped out the entrance of the _Hell's Bane Tavern_ and into Haven, capital city of Valdemar. Liz made an automatic mad dash to the rooftops and then proceeded at a bee-line for the Hill, the foundation upon which Valdemar's capitol had been built, and the location of the Palace, where the Heralds and Healers received their training, and where the Bard's Collegium was built. Liz was incredibly glad for her abilities, as she was able to go any where she wanted without any regard for who wouldn't want her there, as she had established a safe haven in the palace in the rooms of a girl named Jisa. Liz made it to the Palace gates when she felt something happen to her body. Forced out of her nondetection, Liz collapsed, stunned at the amount of anger which she felt flowing into her from the southwest, from the Karsite border. And the changes in her body were not helping her situation any at all, as she was wracked with pain as a result of them. When the pain finally ceased, a very worried Jisa was watching her with concern in her eyes. Liz got up and pressed her head against Jisa's chest, with Jisa asking what's going on. Liz simply met Jisa's gaze in response.

Later on, in Jisa's quarters, Liz had managed to get back to normal. Her _montrals_ and _lehka_ where as they should, as was her sight and facial markings. However, Liz was still seeing the fur and claws she had as the creature she had turned into. And she was having a panic attack fit for a cornered rat. "Liz, calm down!" Jisa exclaimed, using the full force of her Gifts to force Liz to do exactly that. Liz felt guilty as she always did for having forced her friend to use her Gifts in such a manner. Liz and Jisa both knew the damage which had been caused by the first time Liz had a panic attack. While Liz lacked the Bardic Gift, she still had her sonarkinesis, which could all too easily level all of Haven within mere seconds if applied in the right spot. Liz apologized as she usually did every time Jisa forcefully calmed her down using her Gifts. Before she could get very far, however, what she perceived as a frightening werefox suddenly materialized into the room, looking for Jisa.

Jisa identified the intruder immediately. "Zordrake, what happened to you?" "Zordrake" answered that he had become a new creature entirely, and wasn't sure how to identify the species he had now become. Liz decided to move to where she could dart out of the room when necessary, noticing as she did so that Jisa and the werefox morphed. The werefox gained wings and a tail, whereas Jisa no longer appeared as a determined _tervardi_, all the while Liz's own body morphed, her _lehka_ merging at the back to form a long and furry mane, her hollow _montrals_ shrinking and opening to form ears, wings emerging form her back, a long tree-like tail sprouting from her rump, her face elongating into a muzzle, her teeth sharpening to form fangs, fur sprouting all over her body, and her toes and fingers morphing into claws. She observed the conversation between her friend and the vulpine stranger until she sensed a presence which she knew she oughtn't allow to discover her, at which point, she slinked back to the Hell's Bane Tavern, Mindtouching Jisa where she was going as she did so. Upon turning the corner, however, Liz sensed something very wrong, and Mindspoke her friend one final time, saying *_'Til next meeting, Jisa. And thank you for everything._*

Next thing Liz knew, she had gone from being what Jisa had called a "Xordrayk" in Haven, to a "Xordrayk" in a city so powerfully dominated by technology that she gagged at the unnatural city smog. While the term "Xordrayk" sounded strangely familiar, Liz only knew that she needed to go skyward until she was clear of the smog. She didn't mind the smog in Haven, that was somewhat pleasant in comparison to this. Once Liz had finally achieved an altitude where she could actually breathe, a single phrase came to her mind, unbidden, as she found the skyline, like the word "Xordrake", to be oddly familiar. Neo Gotham City. Almost immediately she backpedaled into a loop as an oncoming contraption charged toward her, intending her bodily harm. Instead, she landed on top of the contraption as easily as a falcon onto a ledge, prompting the contraption to attempt shaking her off. She responded by gripping with her hind claws and charging energy into her forelegs, and then releasing the energy with intent of grounding the contraption and determining its secrets. What happened was nothing less than instantaneous spatial displacement, as when the resulting energy wave cleared, they were in some sort of lightly forested area. The contraption quickly had her full attention, as it opened to reveal what at first appeared to be some sort of Changecreature like what Liz had heard typically came out of the Pelagirs forest back on Velgarth. Black, humanoid, with a pair of long ears protruding from an otherwise human looking face, and a red emblem on its chest in the shape of a bat. Instinctively, Liz reverted back to her natural form while activating her non-detection. As Liz's sight and body reverted back normal, she noticed that the individual before her was just a young liger, still on the way to adulthood, and presently looking rather troubled at her feat. Liz immediately moved off of the craft and circled around to the rear and caught the liger's attention. "Something wrong, mister?" The liger regarded her with a puzzled gaze.

* * *

Liz later learned that the liger was named Terry McGinnis, and was under the employ of a lion named Bruce Wayne, the latter of which turned out to be Neo-Gotham's richest man in town. After a run-in with a pair of interesting young ladies (a cross fox with a street thug's temperament and a snake woman with green scales, dark skin, and the attitude of an artificer), Liz found herself learning quite a bit about the new environs, both from the snake lady (went by the name of Teuicui Turnuroth), Terry, and an old lion named Bruce Wayne.

After some shenanigans including Teuicui and Terry, including the advent of the Splicer fad, Liz decided to assist in a missing persons case involving the fox that she'd ran into when she first encountered Teuicui (who at this point had the same appearance physically that Liz had always seen her with), and ultimately decided to hold a live concert, in a solo performance. Upon seeing the sold out crowd on the night of the performance, Liz knew that it would be impossible to prevent any serpents from crashing the party. Therefore, Liz did her best to emulate the Bards of Valdemar with her performance, in addition to trying out a new song she'd picked up. She started warming up with "My Lady's Eyes" backstage to help achieve focus, as this was quite possibly going to be her toughest performance to date. When Liz stepped on stage, the crowd quieted, unsure of the lone girl in front of them. Liz took a breath and started a song which she favored immensely to feel out the crowd: "Windrider Unchained". Everyone was in awe over her ability, and when she finished singing, just like back in Haven, when she performed in the various festivals at all the different taverns, Liz had everyone cheering her on. With that encouragement, Liz started in on the second song.

"_They see you as small and helpless. They see you as just a child. Surprise when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild! Prepare for your greatest moments. Prepare for your finest hour. The dream you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower! We are lightning straying from the thunder, miracles of ancient wonder! This will be the day we've waited for! This will be the day we open up the door. I don't wanna hear your absolution, hope you're ready for revolution! Welcome to a world of new solutions! Welcome to a world of bloody evolution. In time, your heart will open minds, a story will be told, and victory is in a simple soul!_" The crowd was going absolutely nuts. Liz figured that she would definitely ensure that tonight's crowd got their money's worth, and then some.

"_Your world needs a great defender. Your world's in the way of harm. You want a romantic life, a fairy tale that's full of charm. Beware that the light is fading, beware as the dark returns. This world's unforgiving. Even brilliant lights will cease to burn! Legends scatter, day and night will sever, hope and peace are lost forever!_" Liz was pretty sure that she wasn't the only one who was surprised at the crowd's reaction to her performance. ("_This will be the day we've waited for!_") Liz was sure she saw something amiss in the audience. ("_We are lightning._") There! At the edge of the crowd! ("_Welcome to a world of new solutions!_") Go time!

"_This will be the day we've waited for! This will the day we open up the door. I don't wanna hear your absolution. Hope you're ready for revolution! Welcome to a world of new solution! Welcome to a world of bloody evolution. In time, your heart will open minds, your story will be told, and victory is in a simple soul!_" Apparently, Terry had noticed the same thing she had, because when Liz finished singing the last lyrics, Terry had already dealt with the issue and was giving her the thumbs up. Relieved and emboldened, Liz continued belting out songs into the night, alternating between songs she was familiar with and numbers she didn't even know existed. When Liz finished singing "Legends never die", she felt tired enough that she was willing to end off the concert after one final song.

"_Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest._" Having successfully caught the attention of the crowd, Liz smiles and senses someone about to strike behind her, and Terry was busy elsewhere. Liz simply smiled and casually turned to regard her would-be assailant directly, without missing a beat. "_White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test. Black the beast descends from shadow. Yellow beauty burns gold._" Inque tries to strike her, but Liz anticipated this and easily blocks her assailants attempts to subdue her, throwing her own strike in the process. "_Mirror, tell me something. Tell me who is the loneliest of all. Fear of what's inside me. Tell me, can a heart be turned to stone?_" Liz was certain that with Inque attacking her, the concert had just gotten to be worth every cent and then some, as Liz wasn't even missing a beat with her song. Of course, the Jokerz had the indecency to join the fight. "_Born with no life into subjugation, treated like a worthless animal! Stripped of all rights, just a lesser being. Crushed by cruel, worthless human rule! When it started all we wanted was a chance to live our lives! Now in darkness, taking anything we want and we will rise. We'll rise! We'll rise! From shadows we'll descend upon the world, take back what you stole! From shadows we'll reclaim our destiny! Set our future free! And we'll rise! And we'll rise! Above the darkness and the shame, Above the torture and the pain, above the ridicule and hate, above the binding of our fate!_" Knocked into the back of the stage, Liz carefully kept her body in check. If her beast form were to be seen here... Liz didn't want to think about it. Right now, she was more determined to finish the concert, and finish dealing with Inque and the Jokerz as she did so. Liz then decides to use her trump card: Localized sound chambers. Inque and the Jokerz realize too late that they had just been had. "_Come at me, and you'll see I'm more than meets the eye. You think that you'll break me. You're going to find in time that you're standing too close to a flame that's burning hotter than the sun in the middle of July! Sending out your army but you still can't win, listen up silly boy, 'cause I'm gonna tell you why: I burn! Can't hold me now, you got nothing! I burn! Swing all you want! Like a fever, I'll take you down!_" Inque and the Jokerz, blasted off of the stage by the final notes, fly right into the waiting arms of Gotham PD, who haul them off while Terry returns to congratulate Liz on her performance and asks the crowd for a round of applause for Liz's performance, only for Liz to receive a standing ovation. Liz beams at the crowd's reaction, relieved that she left the right impression. Liz decided that she was going to emulate Jisa's parents in addition to being the, if not one of, the most popular minstrels in Neo Gotham City.

Later on, Liz found herself invited to sing a tribute for a festival honoring the Batman's service to Gotham. Upon receiving another standing ovation for her rendition of "Legends Never Die" in honor of the Caped Crusader, Liz was set upon by Bruce Wayne, who even now still looked like more than a match for any of the Heralds and street toughs, not to mention the Guard, of Haven any day of the week. Alongside Bruce was Terry. The threesome discussed what her plans for the foreseeable future were until Liz felt her hackles rising. Liz apologized and excused herself before using her standard "stage exit" as she liked to call it, dashing off before her beast form could take over. And as it did, Liz rolled, readying, and then letting loose the same energy wave which had let her directly encounter Terry to begin with so as to arrive at the site of her distress instantaneously.

Upon arrival, Liz found herself in a lab and back to normal, since the Beast had evidently decided that stealth was required for this particular venture. Liz kept an ear on her surroundings to ensure that she didn't get lost, and when she found the source of her distress, Liz used her sonarkinesis to remove the remaining obstruction. Upon entry, Liz determined that the source of her distress was the missing cross fox, restrained to a table with equipment about to do something to her. Using her sonarkinesis, Liz undid the vixen's restraints and pulled her from the table before the equipment could even begin. Liz barely had a chance to go anywhere when she was startled out of her non-detection by the werefox from Haven, who now had a vestigial tail and pair of wings. She decided to take advantage of this opportunity and ask the werefox for his help. When the werefox did nothing, Liz started to panic and look around worriedly. That was as far as she got before her eyes betrayed terribly the amount of shock she felt at what Jisa's friend had done. The black werefox, "Zordrake", Liz remembered, then introduced himself by saying "I am the Black Xordrayk. However, in your case, might as well let you know: The name's Zordrake Talon Infernus. Just call me Drake, or Zordrake." Liz then realized where she was at. She was on Shadow Island, in the outskirts of Shallow City.

Liz and the vixen ultimately ended up sharing a room in Zordrake's home. The vixen was understandably distraught, having found herself surrounded by strange creatures. Liz found her beast form taking over when this happened, and good thing, too, as the vixen took one look at Liz in her beast form, only to start cuddling up against Liz when Liz decided to do with the vixen what she had first done with Jisa when she first acquired the form: butt her head against the vixen's chest. The vixen, whose physical appearance consisted brown-green eyes, blonde shoulder-length hair, and a White European skin tone, started crying into Liz's shoulder after her initial shock wore off. Liz did her best to comfort the girl, reverting back to normal to do more than just make cute and soothing growls at her. The vixen noticed the change and asked if Liz was some savage werewolf or whatnot, with Liz replying that the girl must be feeling better if she has the gumption to joke. That earned Liz a startled laugh from the vixen. The vixen then decided to ask for introductions, which Liz would have been all too happy to oblige, if not for a two-headed snake flying in the window as if it had been thrown by its necks and crashing into Liz just as she was about to speak her name to the vixen. When Liz finally recovered from being used as an impromptu cushion against one of the heaviest impacts she had ever received to date, she realized that the snake did not simply have two heads as she originally thought. No, this snake had at least _thirty_ heads, including the two big ones. In addition to that, this particular snake was also part woman, and very big. Before Liz could even get as far as trying to safely rouse this snake and get its attention, Zordrake himself warped into the room, causing the vixen to cover her chest and pelvic region as best as she could with her arms and hands in reaction. Liz puzzled over this for but a second only to reach the conclusion that the poor girl was unfortunately without benefit of clothing at present, in addition to being terribly body shy in regards to males at the least.

Liz quickly interposed one of her sound walls between Zordrake and his prey, pulling herself out from under the still unconscious snake in the process. "Would you mind giving us a little privacy, here? I'm trying to keep someone from flying into a panic, and you seem determined to put all my tedious work into the La Brea Tar Pits without concern for anything but what you are presently doing. And before you say anything, pardon me for deafening you when I say the following word: _**OUT!**_" The force of Liz's shout rather comically sent Zordrake careening out of the door in a tumble, while the vixen and the now conscious snake were dumbstruck by Liz's display. Liz then said in a light English accent "And that was without a single drop of rum," causing the snake to mutter "Damn you," under her breath. Liz responded immediately by saying "Language," causing the snake to curse under her breath, with Liz saying "Do you realize I can hear you if you physically say something? And did I not just say something about watching your language?" The vixen started bawling with laughter at this, she couldn't hold it in any longer. The snake pouted, and decided to try something else instead. "May I lick your chest?" Liz shot back "You wanting to get my scent or something?" as Liz knew that actual snakes often used their tongues to smell, as opposed to their nasal passages. The snake, surprised at the question simply answered to the affirmative, with Liz responding "Sternum only." The snake's tongue was physically that of a human, and the sensation of the snake's tongue rubbing against her bare skin gave Liz a strange sensation for the duration of the lick. The snake considered the flavors of Liz's skin while Liz got dressed for going into the town proper. Liz was about to leave through the door when the snake put a hand on Liz's shoulder to stall her. The snake stared directly into her eyes and whispered "I know you and your family, Elizabeth Infernus." That made Liz freeze dead in her tracks as she realized the snake was, in fact, Vennominaga, the Deity of Poisonous Snakes, and leader of the Vennominaga Sect.

* * *

A/N: Batman Beyond fans, I'll thank you for keeping your lips together in front of your nitpicking, I did my best, OK?

And finally, this Chapter took far longer than expected to complete. Why haven't I described any of the characters in detail other than the random blonde yet? Because I'm lazy. Yeah, I said it, put down your pitchforks. This series is going to be an attempt at mimicking some of my favorite authors and yes, that this book is a Valdemar crossover in addition to everything else is no coincidence. I happen to like Mercedes "Misty" Lackey. Fight me. Next chapter is not going to do as much back and forth across the dimensions, but there will still be a bit more to come in the following chapters. That said, I will try to keep it from being too gay, straightening it out as needed. And yes, that was a gay joke, not that any of you were wondering, right? Again, put down your pitchforks. _Zhai'helluva_ und se ono sverdar sitja hvass!


	4. Chapter 3: Gearmangaia Fireheight

Everything was still before them. They moved at a speed which should not have been possible for an armored gold spider the size of two horses put together carrying the weight equivolent to a fifteen year old human female in full battle regalia. But then again, neither battle spider Lightning or his Spider Rider, Gearmangaia Fireheight, were exactly what you would call "normal". And they were reputed to be the fastest duo among the current Spider Riders. Of course, that wasn't really saying much nowadays, as in the aftermath of Mantid's defeat, human and invectid alike were joining forces against the Spider Riders. Hunter Steel and Shadow, Corona and Venus, Aqune and Portia, Brutus and Magma, Igneous and Flame, and Quake and Dagger had all given up the ghost, one way or another. With Battle Spider Ebony and the Prince having gone to fight on the front lines in spite of protests from his sister, Gaia and Lightning had to rush to Sparkle and Hotarla's side in the prince's stead to protect her from any additional harm. Problem was every second spent in travel was another second that the enemy had to snuff out the royal bloodline. Gaia and Lightning knew that time was their enemy in this, as such, they took advantage of every trick they had to get to Sparkle and Hotarla in time to do some good, knowing that even their best might not be enough to prevent or even end catastrophe in a timely enough manner.

They arrived at Sparkle's quarters just in time to cut down a man who looked ready to throw some sort of powder at them. Gaia knew they were too late to prevent catastrophe, perhaps they could still reverse the damage which had- Why did it have to be _miranda thorns_? Gaia looked the situation over in an instant. Hotarla was in Manacle Space, and Sparkle was just beginning to feel the effects of _miranda thorns_ lying on her bed. Gaia and Lightning rushed out of the city with Sparkle in tow. Nothing will ever be the same again.

Upon reaching what appeared to be a small cave, Gaia began to worry for the life of her comrade. After all, Sparkle was only about Gaia's age. With Gaia only having five years experience as a Spider Rider compared to Sparkle pretty much spending her entire life as one, Gaia considered Sparkle a dear friend, and would go to some pretty impressive lengths just to ensure Sparkle was okay. Gaia finally took note of her surroundings. "I've only been this way twice before. There should be someone who can help Sparkle where we're going," Lightning stated. Gaia shot back "Lightning, we're dealing with _miranda thorns_. The most anyone can do that I know of is to buy her time." "Then we'll just have to do the impossible," Lightning shot back. Lightning then jumped up through a hole in the ceiling of the tunnel, emerging into some sort of building. Lightning continued up two flights of stairs and into what appeared to be a reception area. At that point, Gaia and Lightning finally slowed down to properly interact with those present after setting Sparkle on a couch facing the fireplace. The others present were a tall man with violet red hair streaked with black, green eyes, and a black and green outfit consisting of what appeared to be an armored drover, cargo pants, military style boots, and futuristicly high tech gauntlets, a small child(?) with nondescript features all around and a brown outfit consisting of a t-shirt, cargo shorts, and hiking boots, and what appeared to be a scorpiotaur with a red exoskeleton, four pincers, and five stinger tails to accompany a face partially obscured by the exoskeleton with heterochromatic white and black eyes (left and right, respectively), and black hair done in a short punk-style cut where the exoskeleton didn't cover her scalp.

The tall man recognized the situation instantly. "_Miranda thorns_, damn," he swore. The guy in brown, proving he was a good deal older than what his appearance suggested by speaking in a deep bass, asked the tall man "Remind me what _miranda thorns_ means, Zordrake?" Zordrake simply replied "Mage-born poison, courtesy of the Black Fire mage, Kiyamvir Ma'ar. Symptoms are ultra-hyperactive pain receptors, hallucinations akin to an acid trip gone terribly wrong, and overall burnout of the entire nervous system. Made specifically to be absolutely incurable by any means. In other words, this girl, Princess Sparkle, is out of time." Gaia took an unnaturally sharp intake of breath in response to Zordrake's recognition of Sparkle. Zordrake turned to the scorpiotaur. "Put an end to her suffering, Scorpion. You know what to do." Scorpion simply moved to where her stingers could easily reach Sparkle's heart and stabbed. After five unbearable seconds, Scorpion finally removed her stinger from Sparkle's chest, and moved towards the dwarf whose head was barely level with Gaia's hips, and Gaia was only fifteen Earth years old and six feet tall! Sparkle's eyes fluttered open, however. Gaia, who was concerned for her friend, was of course the first one to notice. "Scorpion, what did you do with Sparkle?" Gaia asked out of curiosity. Scorpion replied worriedly, almost whining, "I only wanted to stop her pain from the _miranda thorns_! What'd I do wrong!?" Zordrake quickly chastised Scorpion for being so loud when her mother was still asleep, and Gaia told Scorpion, "You didn't do anything wrong. In fact, I think you actually outdid any Velgarthian Healer by lightyears just now, look!" When they did, Sparkle was actually grumbling about her brother really needing to do more worrying about his sister and ensuring that wasn't going to lose her. And Zordrake was actually dumbfounded. Gaia didn't think she'd ever see someone in such a state in her lifetime, but here it was. Zordrake then asked "Scorpion, would it be possible to milk your venom for future research? I'm pretty sure tha-" "Absolutely not, Zordrake." Zordrake was stunned at Gaia's interruption. "I went from Arachna castle to here with Sparkle in tow, knowing full well that it was impossible for her to survive _miranda thorns_, all in a matter of _fifteen minutes_ on a trip which normally takes _three days_ to complete. Sparkle is alive because of a fraggin miracle which had no chance or excuse for happening, and we don't even know if she is going to last the day, never mind a whole week. In addition to that, milking someone's venom for research!? I personally get squeemish when someone asks for something my body produces for any reason! For the love of Glaux, Lupus, Ursa, Yehova, Kernos, or whomever, please take Scorpion's feelings on the matter into account before asking her for her venom!" Gaia then said "Spider in!" and then took Sparkle out what Gaia assumed was the front door of the building.

After a number of navigational blunders, Gaia and Sparkle finally found a local Healer by the name of Maura Syx. "I don't know about you, but I'd say you still have a few years ahead of you. Please remember not to do anything particularly reckless, or you'll have me breathing down your neck." Maura was not the kind of woman to sugar coat things, and it showed. Maura was in fact the kind of doctor who would look you over and then let you know exactly what she knew to be the case and then give you whatever treatment or prescription she deemed would produce the fastest recovery, period. And wouldn't even bother with a sugar pill if she could help it. Gaia decided to ask about the boy on the operating table. Maura responded "Hair worms," to which Gaia gave the "Oh" of recognition and asked "How long?" Maura sighed and said "This will come as a shock, but this boy has had those hair worms for seven years now." Gaia, aghast with surprise, asked "_How is he still alive!?_" as humans never lasted for more than one month with a hair worm infection. Maura sighed again, and said "The going theory is that the boy, Yura, he's part badgerbear for whatever reason. It's a running gag at this point." While Sparkle was nonplussed and confused at the conversation, Gaia simply decided to ask another question. "How long has he been here?" Maura smiled, and said "Only a couple weeks." Maura actually laughed at Gaia's reaction. She sobered and continued. "His home was completely destroyed with him and his family in it. His only next of kin is his older sister, Emily."

Gaia would have said more, if not for three girls walking in the door of Maura's home asking for Maura. The first was a head shorter than Gaia, with black shoulder length hair, red snake eyes, fair skin, and a tattoo resembling purple snakeskin covering portions of her body, particularly her left thigh, her chest and arm on the right, and portions of her face. The second was about Gaia's height, having the most normal appearance out of the trio, having blonde chest length hair, green-brown eyes, and of White European ethnicity. The third was strangest, looking like Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars, only her skin was black with the only other color on her body not part of her blind, silver eyes being green. And this girl didn't even have a brain tail on the back of her head at all. She wore a green sleeveless shirt under a green vest with a pair of green cargo pants. The first girl simply wore a sleeveless brown dress with no back reaching down to mid-thigh. And the blonde was wearing a black version of the outfit adorning the third. Maura spoke to the group. "I trust you'd like me to schedule an appointment for these two, right Cobralily?" The black hair responded. "Yes please. They are Elizabeth Infernus-" Cobralily motioned to the blind girl, "-And Spirit Fireheight," She motioned to the blonde, who protested that she never agreed to being referred to by that name. Elizabeth quieted Spirit, warning her against angering Maura, saying that she is a coldrake and will freeze her with a look if at all possible. Gaia was puzzled, as Elizabeth was clearly blind, and there were no coldrakes to speak of in the near vicinity, so how would she know what Maura looked like?

Gaia didn't even have a chance to really ask anything, as what Gaia could only describe as a very angry bipedal dragon fox barged in, looking for Cobralily. That was when the inconceivable happened. Elizabeth and Maura both shouted "Zordrake!" and then the dragon fox's eyes widened in shock at seeing Maura, and immediately morphed into the same man that Gaia had first encountered upon coming to the surface, prostrating himself at Maura's feet as he did so. Gaia looked at Maura, who nodded with a wink. Gaia then kicked Zordrake's rump, which comically resulted in Zordrake flying up and rolling into the air, only to land, splayed flat on his back. Maura burst out laughing, while everyone else present save for Elizabeth had their eyes wide with shock at what had just transpired. When she was finally able to catch her breath, Maura retorted "Maybe next time your ass won't be such a tempting target when you beg for my forgiveness, you clumsy oaf!" Zordrake retorted "_Whatever happened to being realistic in terms of how this stuff worked!?_ How on earth did that even happen anyway!?" Liz and Gaia pointed at each other, smiling as they did so. Zordrake shook his head. "Oi."

Several days later, Cobralily was giving Gaia's sternum a lick. "That's odd." "What's odd?" "Well, let's just say that you taste like a variation of Liz. You aren't an Invectid, either. I would have to say that either you and Liz could be alternate reality variants, or could even be different pieces of the same person." "So, in other words my DNA and-Wait, I'm _not_ an Invectid!?" Lily sighed dejectedly, and responded "No, you're not. In fact, I'd say you were actually a Kronosite Mantidian. Liz is a Kronosite Tiefling, so you know." Gaia considered how she was going to go about breaking the new to Hotarla, Sparkle, and Lightning, when Lightning spoke up. "Just go talk to Liz. If anyone will know what to do, chances are, she will." Cobralily had gone white as a sheet the moment Lightning spoke up, and her color hadn't returned yet. Gaia looked about, puzzled, and noticed that Zordrake was about to strike poor Lily in his Black Xordrayk guise. Gaia then decided to stick out her arm immediately in front of Zordrake's throat. When Lightning let time flow normally again, Zordrake got instantly clothes-lined by Gaia's outstretched arm, sending him sprawling on his back again. Gaia noted that she needed to stop hitting Zordrake in front of Cobralily before he developed back problems.

Gaia later ambushed a girl with pale skin, blue eyes, and ankle length white hair called Annabeth, securing her Manacle onto Annabeth's left wrist, saying "Til next meeting, Lightning," and dashing off, using the last remnants of Lightning's power of speed to leave before anyone could stop her. Gaia later ambushed Liz as she was coming out of the shower. "What are you doing!?" Liz complained when she saw Gearmangaia. All Gaia said was "Making something fractured closer to becoming whole again." With that, Gaia merged bodies with Liz, inflicting upon her Gaia' own form, memories, and abilities, Healing a part of Liz that she didn't know could or even needed to be Healed.

* * *

A/N: Courtesy goes to Bee Train Productions in Japan for Anything related to the Spider Riders series.

Not even a day, and I've already completed this Chapter. If you made it this far and you laughed at any point during this Chapter, You have to leave a review including where you had the laugh attack, and what part of the chapter struck you with mirth. Chapter 4 is on the way!


	5. Chapter 4: Natalie Natteschlaenge

Zeref examined his latest creation, the strongest of the Etherion Demons to date. He had yet to name it, and was thus far quite pleased with the results. Zeref caught a slight movement, his creation had disappeared. _Where-_ "Aaawwww, you found me." _I see. So she'll be that kind of demon._ Zeref rubbed the demon's head. _This one will be very interesting indeed._ The girl had been instrumental in helping him with his research. Now, it is time to move on to the final step.

_After Etherious Natsu Dragneel was completed and sent to Igneel, I've been relegated to fifth wheel status. And everyone else is determined that I'm worthless. _The cobra-viper-boa-human hybrid was very displeased with how things were turning out. _If Zeref wants to have his brother be learned in his letters and figures, then I will have to do the same. Natsu even gets to learn Dragon Slayer Magic. Very well then, we'll see who's fifth wheel when I learn Dragon Slayer Magic of my own! _The creature decided that striking off on its own would be the only way to show all the other demons from the book of Zeref what she was capable of. Unfortunately, the creature's worst tormentor chose that time to try and be rid of her once and for all. Run through the heart with a blade, the poor creature could only scream her last as she fell to the floor, cursing her tormentor to know the folly of trying to kill a dragon born from the book of Zeref as a demon in what she believed to be her last thoughts.

She gasped as she awoke, Zeref was looking at her worriedly. _So Zeref cares about me still? I guess I'm not as intrusive as I thought. Still, better to leave and let the fools know that I am not the same as they._ And when she did, the creature undertook the inconceivable: teaching herself Wind Dragon Slayer Magic. To add to the challenge, she also sought out the fire dragon Igneel, to learn Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. That Igneel's son, Natsu Dragneel, helped her learn, made this all the more impressive. The creature considered herself to be a one of a kind Dragon Slayer.

* * *

There was a clamor behind the Fairy Tail Guild Hall in Magnolia, at the lake's shore. The source: Laxus, the second generation Lightning Dragon Slayer, and Benyamin Ben Dani'El the Etherion Dragon Slayer were letting loose their Dragon's Roars at a dark skinned lass whose body was mostly covered in green snake scales and whose eyes were like those of a tree viper, if a tree viper's eyes were silver in color, and was without benefit of clothing since her arrival at the guild hall. The girl simply stood there and let the roars hit their mark. When the dust settled, Laxus, a muscular tall man with yellow hair cut short and slicked back and a lightning bolt scar on his left eye, and Dani'El, an equally tall but lanky man with bright blue hair and eyes of the same color looked on with shock and bewilderment splayed on their faces as the girl, who then introduced herself as Natalie Natteschlaenge, dusted off her shoulder with utmost disdain on her face. She turned her attention towards Dani'El. "If that was your attempt at a display of superiority, then you fell wide of the mark, _Amadeus Wolf,_" she sneered, causing Dani'El to start when she called him Amadeus Wolf. She then horked up an Ethernano Lacrima, eating as soon as it came out of her mouth. The effects of this particular action were instantaneous.

Her body convulsed from the pain of ingesting so many different elements, and then visibly altered. Now, instead of Snake scales covering the top of her wrists, her shins, and her entire torso, Natalie now had Dragon scales covering the aforementioned locations on her body as well as her upper cheeks and forehead with her pupil slits becoming even more pronounced. And these changes all occurred in mere seconds, after which, Natalie let loose her ace in the hole: "Wind Dragon Slayer Secret Art: **Vacuum Vortex**!" unleashing a powerful twister on Dani'El and Laxus which left the two of them unconscious. She then challenged Salamander to a one-on-one match after she was admitted into the Fairy Tail Guild, to which the hot-headed Fire Dragon Slayer heartily accepted.

Sometime later, Natalie was hanging out in the main area of the Fairy Tail Guild Hall enjoying an orange kiwi banana berry smoothie while her friend, a black haired gal about her age with hawk-like red eyes and fair skin to go with what Natalie thought of as an alarmingly blank expression, sat next to her mechanically eating a sandwich. This was Geargeist Elspeth Fireheight, whom Natalie considered a dear friend, whom she despaired of ever returning to normal in her lifetime without one of those once-in-a-timeline miracles to make it happen. A blonde haired girl with a pink emblem representing Fairy Tail on the back of her right hand walked up and asked about the emblem on Natalie's shoulder just then, derailing Natalie's train of thought. Welcoming the distraction, Natalie smiled and replied "It's actually a birthmark, Lucy, but all the same, it shows that I'm a member of the Serpentian Royal Knights, a faction which you are born a part of, not accepted as a member of like a wizard guild. Which reminds me, would you like to know about how I know Dani'El and Natsu? How I came here?" Lucy nodded in affirmation. Natalie then began her tale, painful though it was at first. "It all started when I was brought into being by Zeref..."

Natalie finished her tale feeling a little better. Explaining how she had arrived at the base of operations for the Vennominaga Sect, only to be accosted by a strange girl who had purple snake-skin tattoos adorning a good majority of body and eyes like her own save for the fact that they were red instead of silver, and then given her present form by the same girl, who had then introduced Natalie to her friend Zordrake Talon Infernus and the then lively Elspeth Fireheight only for Zordrake to have apparently met his end in a ball of black flame reopened an old wound that was still trying to close. Natalie vividly remembered screaming in fear at the sight of someone meeting an untimely demise. Speaking about the days that followed rubbed salt into wounds which had yet to heal. She had suffered nothing less than torture at the hands of Boa Viper Ishtar. Raped, cut, beaten, and even getting various toxins introduced to her body, it was a miracle that she managed to survive somewhat intact. Then, when Elspeth's mind was warped and shattered, that had been the last straw. Lucy then asked what Natalie originally looked like. Natalie smiled, forgetting in an instant the past which troubled her. Wordlessly, she morphed her legs into a long snake tail, sprouted a second pair of arms which matched the first when those became completely covered in snake scales, and her head into that of a snake. Natalie grinned then, remembering back to when Amadeus, the third strongest demon out of the book of Zeref, had taunted Natalie about being the weakest of them, in spite of Zeref's claims that she was in fact the second strongest. Dani'El certainly looked at Natalie with recognition, shock, and disbelief now. All that turned into anger all too quickly, and he acted on that anger immediately. Dani'El would've struck Natalie, if not for his face suddenly becoming embedded in the floor with Nat's tail on top of it. Nat then turned to Lucy saying "This would be why I don't wear clothes."

Weeks pass, and Natalie is no closer to finding a way to restore her friend. She rekindles her friendship with Natsu, whom she knows as E.N.D.: Etherious Natsu Dragneel, and declares that E.N.D. is the only person who can possibly hope to defeat her in combat when she's holding nothing back. And Natalie also regularly goes on missions which require that she use her body and mind, in an effort to ensure that she could render herself unrecognizable physically. And so, we find Natalie perusing the Fairy Tail quest board when Elspeth reports that she found a mission of interest already. Natalie takes a look at the request, and upon realizing that it is a request from Vennominaga herself, who never requests outside help unless she is certain that the situation absolutely necessitated outside intervention, and even then, she generally tends to hesitate when making such a decision, due to the rest of the sect being generally hostile towards strangers, Natalie immediately asked Markarov about the quest after determining that it was in fact an S-Class quest. "Absolutely not." Markarov had his stubborn old man attitude in full force with this one. Knowing how Markarov generally tended to react around women working their whiles on him, Natalie pulled a ploy which she knew was going to ensure the elderly Guild Master's cooperation on this. Going to her bad girl attitude and turning the sex appeal up to 11 with every trick she knew, including tone of voice, pheromone excretion, and a suggestive pose, all in order to ensure that she got this mission. Nat even had a particular team in mind for this particular quest. However, Markarov was not planning to budge on this one at all, in spite of the fact that she hadn't used this particular ploy on him before. "Like I said, absolutely not. I don't trust this particular individual one bit, and you have no idea what the area is like-" Natalie cut him off, dropping the act and morphing to her snake form, letting her pheromones inform Markarov how she felt about this, saying "I _damn well_ know the area, the locals, and the one giving this particular quest! This is my _home_ we're talking about here, and I'll be damned if I'll let any of my fellow guild matessss go there without a willing and honesssst guide! I either go and determine what the isssssue issss, or no one in Fairy Tail goessss at all! That area issss hosssstile towardssss outsssiderssss on account of the localssss! Do you want your children to die, or do you want them to come home fully intact?" Natalie's voice had reduced to an angry intelligible hiss which was ironically heard across the entire guildhall. Natalie never did this unless she was adamantly determined to do something and getting dangerously close to cracking heads open like she was crushing eggs. And until now, Dani'El had been the only one to ever be on the receiving end of that particular display, and the one time he did make the mistake of denying her what she wanted, his head, ribs, and limbs were all in a very poor state afterwards as a result of her resulting rage. Markarov and the rest of the guild knew that Natalie appeared to not care much about most things, however, she made it clear that she was not to be denied in participating in quests involving the Vennominaga Sect or their home turf the day after she became a member of the guild. However, it appeared that Markarov himself was adamant against Natalie going on this quest. And unfortunately for Dani'El, he happened to have the bad taste to sneer "You couldn't protect your closest friend from those loons, what makes you think you can protect one of your own guild mates from 'em?" Natalie slowly turned towards Dani'El, her silver eyes ablaze with barely contained rage. Once she had caught his gaze, Natalie struck at range, spraying her venom in a thin stream into Dani'El's eyes, blinding him, and burning the flesh off of his hands as he covered his eyes from the pain of acid having been sprayed into his eyes. Dani'El screamed and writhed on the floor in pain, with even Markarov seeing that Natalie was beyond being reasoned with. He sighed and asked why she was so determined to take the quest. Natalie, calming down enough so she could speak, replied that it was her own personal honor on the line as a royal knight of Serpentia to respond to any and all requests for assistance originating from her home, no matter the gravity of the request, as she was a Serpentian Royal Knight first, and a Fairy Tail wizard second. Natalie said the same would be true of her friend if she had a mind of her own. "Very well then," Markarov said finally, "Take the blind Dragon Slayer with you, seems how he's in desperate need of some humble pie." Natalie flatly responded "Amadeus is a demon out of the book of Zeref, he won't be blind for more than a week."

* * *

Liz was in serious trouble. She was chained to the wall without benefit of clothing with Boa Viper Ishtar having his way with her quite freely. Liz had suffered like this for three weeks straight, and worse, she hadn't had anything to eat or drink except for various poisons which Boa forced down her throat in that time. What was worse, her body wasn't her own during the time that Boa was knowingly in her presence, making her body crave the torture he inflicted upon her. And in her mind, there was no greater torture than your body not being your own. He knew that she was desperate for a chance to end this never ending cycle, and relished in her agony. Finally, as Boa caressed her nether regions, she snapped. _No one_ should do what Boa was doing right now. And worse, her body was demanding more. She'd had enough.

Boa was then sent flying across the room as Liz Force Pushed him into the adjacent wall. Liz felt her body shriek from the forced cessation of the contact, and forced her body to cooperate. Liz knew that forcing beast mode was the only way she was going to manage to get her body back to normal. However, her body had other plans. Free from the confines of any clothing, her body was free to do as it pleased. For starters, a slightly more demonic appearance, which meant a pair of bat-like wings capable of manipulating objects as easily as her regular hands, and a dragon-like tail with the same capabilities in addition to having enough flexibility to pass for that of a female Kronosite Mantidian's. Her body then decided that "Boa" wasn't reacting properly to its present appearance, and transitioned fully into her beast form, roaring as it did so, scaring Vennominon out of his wits, and absolutely terrifying him when he registered that she no longer bore the same appearance that she had originally. With an evil smirk at Boa, Liz left to find Spirit. Upon locating her, Liz's body, still largely non-responsive to her commands, coaxed Spirit into finding an appropriate location to shed her clothing, and with nothing between them, Spirit allowed Liz's body to coax her into full heat, ensuring that Liz would have her hands full for the night.

* * *

Natalie arrived at the outskirts of Serpentia with Geargeist and Amadeus in tow without incident. However, upon reaching the Hell's Bane Tavern, a very drunk girl with dull black snakeskin tattoos covering her left leg and right arm in their entirety in addition to the shoulder and visible portion of the chest and the upper cheeks, and snake slit pupils adorning eyes that were such a dull yellow-orange it was a wonder if those eyes were even capable of sight, came stumbling out with three open bottles of booze in hand and every indication that she was so drunk, the resulting hangover would be of mythical proportions. Upon stumbling into Natalie's chest, the girl started groping Natalie, causing her to hiss hotly in embarrassment, as she was receiving sexually oriented handling from a complete stranger. That hiss made the girl jerk up in response, resulting in a loud pop when she suddenly pulled her head away from Natalie's chest. The girl then morphed into a massive snake-haired lamia with depressingly dull scales covering her body, and the mouth on her face simply disappeared along with her nostrils. This display was all that poor Natalie needed to recognize in shock who was before her. "Mistress Vennominaga!" Natalie exclaimed.

* * *

Liz was on the alert, as Naga was in the house, and Zordrake was not one to pass up an opportunity like this. He would want to eliminate Vennominaga if given such an opportunity. Liz's fears seemed to be unfounded, however, when she stumbled into the room where Alexander Infernus, Angela Knight (a small girl with blonde hair which looked as if it hadn't ever been cut in the decade and a half that she'd been alive and brown eyes), Scorpion Nightwing (who'd acquired a human form with an appearance similar to her scorpiotaur form, with her right eye being white, her left eye being black, and her close-cropped hair being blood red in terms of color, whereas she herself smaller than Angela), and Seleia Barton (who had a chest length pigtail and chin length tresses trailing from her blonde hair, aqua blue eyes, and would normally look like a normal dark-skinned human to anyone else, but presently wore an appearance like a female version of Buguese with human eyes due to her half-human, half-Invectid heritage) had been having a slumber party in the night before to see Vennominaga engaged in a one-on-two Duel against Seleia and Angela, with Seleia about to deal the finishing blow to Naga using Angela's Star Eater to effectively level a direct attack on Naga's Life Points. Liz chanced a look at Zordrake and was immediately disgusted with the outright evil sinister look of enjoyment that he was wearing. Chancing a thought to warn Naga, Liz realized she was too late to do anything when Naga let loose a scream which caused everyone capable of doing so to try and cover their auditory canals in an effort to shut the sound out. Zordrake's wings and tail were fully developed at this point, and Naga had fled the body of her current host to take up residence in _Liz's_ body, while Arya Knight was left with a short circuited Duel Disk burning her left wrist to the bone. Liz went Beast Mode, snatching up Arya and rushing out the front door so fast that no one had a chance to react. Liz deposited Arya in Maura's care, and returned to kidnap Angela to deposit her at the same location. Upon her return to her room, Liz was very much exhausted, and wanted to beat Zordrake senseless. She opted for some sleep before any of that happened, however.

* * *

After having ensured that her old friend would actually get and remain sober long enough to tell her what the issue was, Natalie was able to remain upright in spite of her surprise that Naga's old friend Zordrake not only hadn't stayed dead, but also blamed Naga for his seeming demise. Thus, he was determined that Naga should be prematurely sent to judgement. Natalie closed her mouth and put her face in her hands. Before she could even begin a train of thought, Naga proved how drunk she actually still was by grabbing Natalie's hands and placing them on her own bosom and disrobing completely in a single motion just as Natalie snatched her hands away in embarrassment only to grab both Natalie and Elspeth, dragging them to her personal quarters after barking an order to have Natalie's old quarters dusted out and readied for use by the three Fairy Tail wizards, drunkenly ignoring the fact that Elspeth wasn't even such, and then proceeding to drag Natalie into a three-way mating session involving a lot of groping, shoving of tails into, and/or licking areas best left undiscussed, specifically on Natalie's body from Naga, as that was something which these three had done during far simpler times.

The following morning saw Natalie in her snake form wandering the Knight's Hall in the Palace, where the last officially recognized Royal Knights of Serpentia supposedly waited encased in stone for the day that they would finally be free from the prisons their own bodies had become. Artorius Knight the Berserker, Scorpio the Scout, Snape the Magician, Tai Feng Pendragon the Blazing Knight, Oberon the Lizard Knight, Lancelot the Lanceman, and Arkus the Automaton of Light all rested, encased or immortalized in stone, in this very hall as the stories had said. Natalie was acutely aware of the fact that it still felt like Naga's mind and soul still resided in her body, even though she could sense that both were still within the appropriate container. Of course, logic and feeling rarely coincided if at all. Another lizard warrior had taken pity on her and was presently ensuring that she was able to get rid of all the knots in her muscles which accumulated over the years, all the while she was experiencing something akin to a mating exercise beyond her wildest dreams. It didn't help that Natalie had told the intelligent swamp lizard who insisted on being called Reptirus or Reptile that he was free to do what he felt was necessary to remove _all_ of the knots, aches, and pains from her body, no matter how she reacted to the experience. Gearinferno Reptirus Fireheight had only made matters worse by telling Natalie that if full physical relaxation was what she wanted, then he was going to be coming into contact with some fairly sensitive areas on her body, to she had told him "Just do whatever it takes to remove those god-forsaken aches already!" So here she was, actually enjoying a massage which might as well have been an actual mating ritual for all of the pleasure she was experiencing as a result of it, with her spine popping, knotted muscles becoming untangled, and best of all, the pleasure centers of her brain were stimulated by the surprising lack of pain combined with Reptirus using a combination of oils, expert muscle manipulation, and energy manipulation to give her a treatment which her mind automatically referred to as the kind of service a _kestrachern_ from Velgarth would give. If said _kestrachern_ was a Velgarthian Healer to boot. Which Reptirus might as well be. Natalie decided that she would open her mind to Reptirus to show him how and how much she was enjoying the treatment, to which Reptirus expressed surprise that she actually approved of this. The swamp lizard was very much capable of working the tongue loose like what Natalie suspected the treatment's side effects would be. And so, after her muscles and skeleton were loosed sufficiently, and her scales shone as much as they could shine with being buffed and oiled to perfection while so well overdue for shedding, Natalie let her mouth run with her life story in greater detail than she she'd told Lucy Heartfilia.

"Well," Reptirus said, caressing Natalie's body with the care and experience hard won to him over the years, "That explains quite a bit. Small wonder she set me to assisting Jakob. She didn't want to risk my getting involved." Reptirus and Natalie had just finished discussing his past, and the reason why she had come back. Of course, the peace came to an end, via everything happening at once. Vennominaga, Elspeth, Boa, and Zordrake all came in, one after the other, for one reason or another. Natalie sighed, and slowly raised her head to meet Zordrake's gaze. In doing so, she had him instantaneously transfixed with her gaze, and did something she hoped she wouldn't regret later on: delving into Zordrake's memories. He had a good history with Naga, that much was clear. However, he was woefully ignorant of Naga's true nature. Sensing this, Natalie placed a suggestion within his mind. A curiosity of what would happen if he removed all alterations from everything in the room. Natalie didn't have time for anything else, as Boa had been chanting in an ancient language the whole time she had been rummaging around in Zordrake's head, and finished his incantation by the time she had turned her attention to him. Pain lanced throughout her body as she was pulled from the inside out into another dimension, becoming nothing more than a trespasser in someone else's body. Someone who was thankfully deep asleep, but strange. Natalie could feel her host's body changing, and was surprised when she felt as if the body was her own.

* * *

A/N: Certainly a nice little treat for you Fairy Tail fans, eh? Keep in mind, the next chapter will be darker than the rest of the story, and will involve someone whom you've already met. Chapter 5: Inversion of the White Tiger will feature 2 story lines, including where the end of this chapter went. I even pulled a Chekhov's Gun: can you tell me what it is? Let me know in your review of the chapter, and be sure to answer the following question: Should Zordrake's past be revealed in plain dialogue or via flashback? The poll is up and running, and will continue to be so until Chapter 6 is published. _Zhai'helluva_!


	6. Chapter 5: Inversion of the White Tiger

A/N: Before getting into this chapter, I'm warning you, if you don't like gore or cannibalism in your stories, avoid this chapter like the plague.

* * *

A twelve year old girl with shoulder-length brown hair, tanned skin, and brown eyes was attending a party with a number of older kids, and enjoying a beverage which she considered odd-tasting for apple juice. The girl was approached by an older woman of about twenty four who offered the girl more of the dubious beverage. As naive as she was, the girl accepted the dubious drink, and was alarmed at the fact that she was now beginning to see double. When the woman asked the girl if she was all right, the girl complained that she was seeing double and hadn't hit her head against anything sufficiently hard enough to see stars in the past week. The woman simply told the girl to calm down as she was simply drunk from the alcohol. Wondering aloud about what that was, the girl found herself being escorted by the woman to a room with no other occupants, and then wondered what was going on when the woman closed and then locked the door behind her. The woman merely smiled and made a gesture with her left hand, causing the girl to know no more of the night. Having rendered the girl her puppet for the rest of the night, the woman cast several spells, and she had herself and the girl without benefit of clothing and the room prepared for an arcane ritual which would be the undoing of someone involved...

The girl had woken up the following morning only to discover that something was trying to emerge from her belly and the woman was doing something _in_ her nether regions which only made matters even worse where the girl was concerned. After feeling something being extracted from her pelvic area, the girl was shocked to see that the woman had something attached to her body which shouldn't even be there to begin with. The girl awoke sometime later to find that something else was happening to her body: she was giving birth. And this was a live birth, not the laying of an egg. The girl was transfixed at the fact that the pain felt right, and that the creature emerging from within her womb had instinctively clambered up to her chest to gain nourishment from her body. The girl knew that no matter what her life had been up to that point, after the events which resulted in the moment when she now had something spawned from her flesh and blood feeding from her breast, her life would never again be considered normal. With that realization, the girl chose to give all of her being to the creature feeding from her life force. Her daughter. Black Tiger Infernus.

* * *

Alex was exhausted from the day before. Vennominaga was not the type of person to scream the way she had without good reason. Since yesterday morning's event's, both her twin and her older sister had vacated the home they had shared with their father, Liz, and Spirit. And simply never returned. Alex new better than to assume that either of her sisters had taken their own lives, Hera was a weathertrix, and had all too likely gone to her workplace to get away from their father. And her twin, Winterhart, had simply disappeared off the face of the Earth like anything as massive as an albino Hungarian Horntail Dragoness seemed to have a natural ability for. Of course, her three year old daughter, Black Tiger, had gone missing during the night. Again. Tiger assured her mother to the best of her ability that she could handle herself, no problem. However limited Tiger's ability at communication might be, Alex had understood that Black Tiger was something which had to be kept a best kept secret from day one. Ever since that first and only time she had gotten drunk, she had sworn off parties like that altogether. Tiger made herself the one thing that Alex could not do without: a reminder of how wrong things could become at parties like that. Black Tiger had also done nothing but drain her mother's body of as much as she could without causing irreparable damage at every available opportunity. Alex knew that her daughter was consuming her, inside and out. And Alex didn't care that that was happening. All that mattered was Black Tiger getting right everything that Alex did wrong. Alex had no idea of what was to come that afternoon.

* * *

Black Tiger was pleased with herself. The night after the morning of that gut wrenching shriek had been quite fruitful. Her first successful hunt had finally ended the tyranny of the one who had violated her mother three years before. And her new form was far more suited to hunting than her younger body would have allowed. Bigger, older, stronger, faster, smarter, and far more tempting a trap to her ape-like potential prey. And with luck, her drastically matured body would help her mother greatly. Speaking of which, Tiger knew she was already missed by the sun rising. Well, no reason she couldn't visit the pretty girls who'd come to live in her mother's den. And perhaps she would discover the horned one's favorite scratchy spot. Tiger had just gotten back to the den when she noticed a couple of strange creatures standing outside. A lizard and a... bird? Tiger quickly snuck inside the den and into the horned one's sleeping place. Odd. The horned one's scent is different again. Where... Another dragon/fox? Tiger started licking the strange creature's muzzle to rouse it, only to be met with success at the third lick. The creature shifted, and Tiger moved so the creature could set itself upright without much difficulty. Tiger's mother had warned her against staying on top of someone when they were trying to get up. This strange creature has the horned one's scent!

_Huh? What- Get off me will ya? Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA! What's going on! Oh, right. I should be dead, right? Right? Why am I female? Great._ Memories started rushing past. _Oh, crap. Like a dream so real, it is reality. I am _alive_. And female. With a bunch of crazy abilities, a Duel Spirit who might or might not still be sane in spite of recent events inhabiting my body, alongside three other individuals who may or may not be aware of what's going on right now. So much for that sacrifice meaning too much in regard to the Skyfang Brigade. I wonder how they're doing? Eh, worry about it later. Right now, I'm a xordrayk, and need to be a Kronosite Tiefling. Suppose I might as well see how the neko-onna takes to a chin scratch._ Scratching the girl's chin made her purr. Loudly. Enough so that she sounded like a ship engine. _She purrs like a tiger cub. And must've been looking for attention. Unfortunately, that does not excuse the fact that I am still not a Kronosite Tiefling, and am instead a fraggin' tervardi!_ Movement drew the attention of both females, but didn't cause any cessation of the purring coming from Black Tiger. Spirit was awake, if only because there was a ship engine in the room at the moment. _*Spirit, don't panic, but I'm a _tervardi_ right now. And I apologize for the battleship engine in the room, I didn't expect this cat to have such a loud purr!*_ Spirit's eyes opened wide at the sight before her. "Liz, were you just-" "Talking in your head just now? Yep. Mindspeech fit to cripple Martian Manhunter in a telepathic throwdown. And so you know, I'm still trying to get back to some semblance of normal." Spirit decided to keep the "cat" purring contentedly while her friend managed to revert to normal. Liz heaved a sigh of relief when she felt that she had managed to get her Kronosite Tiefling form back to being "active", but found that something was still off. _She had snake scales._ What was worse, Liz was noticing that her senses were enhanced and her eyes no longer felt as they should have felt. Liz knew that she had become a Serpentian upon this discovery. She still felt as if she was a stranger in her own body. Ironically, the xordrayk form felt less strange.

Liz and Spirit were taking turns keeping Black Tiger purring when Alex opened the bedroom door. "Tiger!? What-" Alex was incredulous. And Tiger simply looked lazily at Alex and licked the back of her hand a couple of times, as if expecting Alex to understand some sort of request directed at her, without her purring doing anything but increase. Liz was sure that if Zordrake couldn't hear the veritable jet engine running in the room at that time, she was going to be shocked. Alex then proceeded to reply to Tiger's apparent request for a bath by saying "Alright, just keep in mind you have some serious explaining to do young lady. And you are coming with me into the _shower_." The only response Tiger gave was the perking of her ears, which were very much the ears of a cat. Tiger then got up and stretched in a manner that was typical of cats, and followed Alex out of the room after giving Liz a look that suggested that Liz could expect to see Tiger again very soon.

Liz and Alex were eating egg sandwiches which _Liz_ had cooked up, when Zordrake came in the kitchen looking far more frightening than he had the previous morning. And he was talking to no one in particular, looking for Vennominaga, and noting that Vennominaga's scent was strongest around Liz. Finally, Liz felt herself change from frightened fifteen year old girl to angry hardened soldier. That meant Liz was no longer in control. This also caused Liz a fit of recognition, as this was the same entity who had controlled her body while she was in xordrayk form, and when she had terrorized Boa with her appearance. This personality was someone who knew how to command troops, pitch their voice for any situation, and give a tongue lashing almost as scathing as what Maura could dish out. This personality was the leader of the Skyfang Brigade, _Corporal Talon Reptile_. Alive, and very much done with Zordrake's crap. _I'm not Corp. Talon Reptile anymore, kid. He died protecting his comrades. Just call me GX, eh? Zordrake needs a wake-up call, and the only way it's gonna happen is if I do something about his obsessing over a meaningless vendetta._ "Zordrake Talon Infernus, I've had enough of you're rambling! If you say one more word in regards to your idiotic vendetta against Vennominaga, I am going to crush your skull, ribs, and limbs to the point where you'll be a _year_ in recovery, and I'll also have Healer Shedrake give you the foulest remedies in her arsenal to boot! Winterhart and Hera have already left the house and not come back after yesterday _morning_!" Zordrake again started rambling about Vennominaga, only to be cut off by Alex telling him off and Vennominaga is gone and out of their lives. Alex then proceeded to start shouting at her father for obsessing over something that has already been dealt with, catching Liz and GX both off guard at the fact that _Alex_ was lecturing her father about priorities, as Alex was usually quite even tempered. Of course, Gearmangaia pointed out something on Alex's left wrist: a Spider Rider's Manacle. There was a Battle Spider close by, and Alex snapped them out of their reverie by slapping her father so hard that he crashed into the table, destroying it. "If you don't stop this tirade, I'm going to burn the fur off of your body after Liz has reduced the majority of your skeleton to a fine powder!" Liz seized control to make a hard jab at Zordrake. "If this is what you really are, then you're lucky that Jisa didn't have you banned from ever entering Haven to begin with!" Zordrake looked at Liz with shock and hurt in his eyes, as she had said that. Liz was already practically dragging Alex out the door by the time Zordrake could react. Liz knew that Boa, some way somehow, was responsible. That snake was always causing trouble, no matter where he went.

Alex, Spirit, Liz, Black Tiger, and the two odd creatures from before met up at a place which Liz was surprised to find out about: the Hell's Bane Tavern. Liz let GX take the helm, who was surprised to see a familiar face among the patrons of the tavern: Bulldog Popov of the Skyfang Brigade, who waved them over, and ordered orange juice for the whole group. Bulldog looked the worst of it, and appeared to be very badly depressed. GX got over her shock long enough to ask what an old war dog was doing, ordering drinks for people he didn't even know, when they might not even like orange juice. That startled Bulldog into a slight chuckle, who replied "Now that's a question I used to ask a Corporal I knew quite well back when we first met in an officer's club in Saudi Arabia. He'd said-" "Because it never hurts to show some kindness, 'cause after all, it's the thought that counts, right?" GX finished with a smile. Bulldog looked askance at GX, like he'd seen a ghost. Then he asked "What color is Chandra Nalaar's hair?" GX responded immediately "Blonde, but you couldn't tell that just from looking at her unless she was perfectly calm, on account of her being aflame the rest of the time." Bulldog's jaw dropped, and his astonishment turned to joy as GX continued "I told you it'd take a miracle for us to see each other again, didn't I?" Bulldog could not have been happier when he asked those present to raise their glasses to the return of Corporal Talon Reptile to the land of the living. That was the only time that little group would actually get to simply forget everything else for the moment.

* * *

Alex had waited patiently while Liz, who apparently was also three other people at once, socialized with the "old war dog" who was Lieutant Colonel Bulldog Popov and other people who shared in Bulldog's fate of being mutated into human/animal hybrids. They called themselves the "Skyfang Brigade", marking them as mercenaries who had a very specific idea of what should and shouldn't be done. Alex was left wondering how Liz had managed to develop three other entire personalities until a raven who answered to the name "Sagitta" asked Liz how she came to end up the way she did. "Liz" soberly told the tale of how Elizabeth Infernus, Gearmangaia Fireheight, and Natalie Natteschlaenge had started out ostracized as outsiders for one reason or another, managing to find escape in the form of those who had accepted them wholeheartedly in spite of what they looked like, and went to work on becoming accepted by everyone else with varying degrees of success. That Gaia had found Liz an outright wreck of a person and decided to inflict Liz with Mantidian Host Syndrome in an attempt to Heal her shattered mind was something which was borne out of a need to bring someone lower than herself to her level, and Natalie was fortunate in that she was able to get done what she did. Liz had had it the worst, as she was still ostracized by others and had spent two separate periods being tortured, only barely managing to hang on to sanity by some unknown force. That last astounded everyone who happened to be listening, including Zordrake, who'd come into the tavern trying to find Vennominaga.

Before Zordrake could do anything, however, GX shifted form to something which no one was expecting: Vennominaga's Duel Spirit form. At least that was the feel it had, its appearance was rather dissimilar. Scales which should've shone with dark splendor were dull and lifeless. Eyes which ought to have glittered an evil red were little more than a dull yellow that sat there. And where every movement should have been executed with royal grace instead were uncertain and stilted. Zordrake was sure that this was some cheap wannabe trying to emulate a prideful seductress. But when she spoke, there was an uncanny presence behind every word which was clearly the result of centuries, if not millennia, of commanding the masses which Zordrake could mistake for nothing else. _This_ was Vennominaga, Deity of Poisonous Snakes, Patron of the Vennominaga Sect, and the last Gifted student he had ever taught in the use of her Gifts. Zordrake was flabbergasted at the fact that someone whose mere presence had conveyed undeniable authority without conscious thought behind it now barely had enough presence to convey the fact that she was no longer in her right mind in regards to how she acted or behaved. Gone was the rightful arrogance which was usually associated with someone of royal status, only despair and anguish remained. It was clear that this was no longer the Naga Zordrake had known for so long. Revenge against this creature was out of the question. Zordrake wanted only to put this thing out of its misery. Zordrake found himself quickly caught in its glare. Anger and disbelief joined the ever-present anguish and despair as he found himself the sole receiver of Vennominaga's attention. Vennominaga had clearly caught him in her coils as Zordrake discovered that his ability to influence reality was denied to him. What had happened to someone so elegant to reduce them to this?

Vennominaga knew the taste of her former mentor's scent like the back of her hand. The moment she caught sight of him, she knew he was in the tavern for her demise. And yet some voice in her mind not her own _hissed _at her to get Alex and Tiger out of the tavern and someplace where they could safely resume their lives without Zordrake driving Alex insane. And another voice which Vennominaga recognized as belonging to Liz (what had she done!?) warning her to take it out of the tavern if she was going to start an altercation, or they would both be banned from the tavern. Vennominaga followed instructions by pinning Zordrake into place and using the spatial displacement ability that another voice told her to use. Gearmangaia muttered about their getting separate bodies to make it easier to keep each other's abilities separate, to which the second new voice stated that they were working on that detail. Vennominaga was puzzled at the fact that there were three other voices in Liz's head, including Gaia's, but couldn't think on it further on account of the second unknown wresting control away from her and voicing an apology to everyone about the presently transpiring events before teleporting Zordrake away to deal with him directly. Who were the other two sharing Liz's body? And why did both feel so familiar?

* * *

Tiger's only warning of what was about to happen was the voice of the bird girl in her head telling her ahead of time. So when she was alone with her mother in one of the strange den-trees without much explanation, she wasn't so badly surprised. Tiger figured that since she was alone in someplace with her mother where they wouldn't disturbed for some time, Tiger decided to try using the sounds which her mother used to communicate with so often to tell her mother what happened the night before. And Tiger had experimented until she thought she had her communication at to where she could be understood. She started by saying her mother's name.

"Alex?" Alex started at the voice, it rang like that of a singer. A lilting alto-soprano which would carry across a crowd even without a microphone boosting its volume. Checking around quickly, Alex concluded that the voice must have belonged to her own daughter, it couldn't have been anyone else, the woman who'd caused Tiger's very existence had a high and sultry soprano voice. As if reading her mind, Tiger tentatively asked if it was the one who'd scarred her for life, to which Alex just as tentatively affirmed. With more confidence, Tiger calmly said something which made Alex blanch: "I ate her last night." Desperately hoping that she had heard wrong, Alex asked "What?" with a little fear creeping unbidden into the inquiry, as Alex was afraid of the implications this had. Black Tiger simply replied "I hunted her down last night. She hurt you and you hadn't recovered from the hurt. So I ate her alive to leave her with a lesson for when she came back. She won't be so quick to hurt you next time." Alex turned white as a sheet as she heard this, and gulped before asking if Tiger would eat _her_. Tiger responded "Only if you want me to." Alex felt a bit of color return to her body while she heaved a sigh of relief that she wasn't going to be eaten by her own daughter unless she specifically asked for such a fate. Alex then toyed with asking about the drastic increase in age her daughter had clearly experienced, but thought the better of it, as she was more curious about how her daughter even knew anything about her demons. As if reading her mind again, Tiger said she really needed to stop pouring so much of herself into feeding her own daughter if she wanted to keep her family from falling apart too soon. Alex decided that they were in a private enough place, and told Tiger that they were going to bathe, and Tiger would get a last feeding before they both went off to sleep. Tiger was still feeding from her mother when Alex drifted off to sleep.

* * *

GX considered the days events as they knew them. GX had woken up to a tiger doing a rather passable attempt at being a female human, who had black fur with white stripes, a head of hair colored like a skunk's back, and piercing violet eyes, licking her xordrayk muzzle. Her name was Black Tiger, coincidentally, and Alex Infernus was her mother from what GX could tell. Then, at breakfast, Zordrake began making a scene, and a very unpleasant one at that, forcing GX to give him a dressing down, which wound up being followed up by Alex giving him a scolding, and Liz hitting him where it hurt the worst theoretically speaking. They then all met up in the Hell's Bane Tavern with Spirit, Gearinferno Reptirus Fireheight, and Geargeist, and ended up meeting the Skyfang Brigade. About the time that GX was saying something about the illogic of how Liz was able to cling to sanity in spite of all the toture she had been through, Zordrake had wandered in, catching Vennominaga's attention, and that almost culminated in disaster right there, if it hadn't been for GX, Gearmangaia, Liz, and Natalie getting together and butting into the situation and almost ordering Vennominaga to do things that would result in the least amount of trouble, instead phrasing it in a way that was- actually they were just giving Vennominaga orders, no way around that. And after warning Alex and Tiger that they were going to be teleported someplace safe, GX took matters into their own hands by wresting control away from Vennominaga and teleported Zordrake and Vennominaga (and by extension, GX, Liz Gaia, and Natalie along with) to the top of the mountain which dominated Shadow Island. And that was where things got strange. GX devoutly wished there was some way of rendering all six of them separate, right then and there, but in all the ways GX had played out this tale, Vennominaga always had to be brought to her senses and then challenge Zordrake to a Duel which inevitably culminated in Vennominaga losing all alterations on her very being, while Zordrake was always brought to see reason by the end of the Duel in order to remove those alterations. And no changes would remain, save for the ones which nature had itself imbued. Time's changes were even reversed to an extent. In other words, the only way for the six of them to have separate bodies would be if GX managed to keep Vennominaga in Liz's body until the Duel which was to be the end of Zordrake's Vendetta. And right now, Zordrake and Vennominaga were having a stare-down so intense that it was amazing that the surrounding rock wasn't doing anything at all.

Vennominaga had the presence of mind to keep track of GX's seemingly nonsensical musings. What did GX know of her suffering, the future? Nothing. GX stabbed back, this story has been played out in my head so many times, I couldn't count them all on both hands, er, talons? Urgh, I can't keep it straight anymore. Anyway, you're looking at someone who knows that the best way to ensure the least amount of pain for everyone is if you and Zordrake both stay alive, and ultimately make amends. Yes, forgive, but not forget, as this time of conflict will color your relationship regardless. What matters is that you and Zordrake bring this to a peaceful solution, because Zordrake will need the emotional support that only a close friend can give. _Then who should I be concerned about, for his sake?_ Yuko Shinosake. It won't make a difference, anyroad. She'll still cause trouble, no matter what you do. This is something which has been festering for _years_. You need to be there for him after. You specifically, Naga, Queen of Serpentia.

Vennominaga blanched at something, which Zordrake quickly found was in her head. And whatever it was, he couldn't do anything until he was allowed in. Vennomiaga finally turned her attention back outward with a wistful expression on her faces. Zordrake actually paused marvel at the fact that any time Vennominaga had been in her Duel Spirit form, all of her snake heads could act independently of each other or in unison with her primary face, as he called it. This wasn't the first time he had done this, and Zordrake had the feeling that he was not going to avoid doing so in the future, even after Vennominaga was little more than a bad memory. Schooling his expression, Zordrake asked Vennominaga what she had to say for herself, cut off mid-sentence by her shouting at him in anguish and pain. "I had come to your house yesterday morning to ask forgiveness of you lot, you fool! And if it hadn't've been for Seleia and Angela hearing none of it, I wouldn't be _here_ right now! _Liz might even still have her body to herself!_ _Your granddaughter would have one less voice in her head!_" Zordrake was shocked. Liz was now Vennominaga's host? And she was his long lost grandaughter? Zordrake was in complete denial. "Show me you speak the truth, miserable serpent!" he demanded. Vennominaga complied far to quickly for this to have been a surprise to her in the least. Of course, Zordrdake was expecting Liz to have the same snakeskin tattoos which all of Vennominaga's hosts had sported up to this point as well as sighted eyes with snake-slit pupils. Zordrake was not expecting Liz to be almost completely covered in _snake scales_ with lifeless dull black being prominent, while the oxymoronically vibrant dull green scales lightly shining where the black wasn't covering on the chest and hips, as well as on Liz's right shin and the top her left wrist. And while her eyes were the same dull, lifeless orange Vennominaga's eyes were just a moment ago, they were still blind, but with the expected snake-slit pupils. Otherwise, Liz looked exactly as Zordrake would've expected if she'd become Vennominaga''s host. And her scent- Zordrake's eyes widened in absolute shock. _Liz had the same scent as his long lost granddaughter!_ Flabbergasted by this time, Zordrake barely registered Vennominaga saying "Look at the granddaughter you lost as she has become." That sentence was enough for Zordrake to register that as Vennominaga relinquished control to Liz, the lifeless dull black scales faded from Liz's body, leaving the tops of both wrists, both shins, the shoulders and upper two thirds of the chest, the upper quarter thigh on both legs and the entire pelvic region covered entirely with gleaming green scales that looked overdue for shedding, and blind snake eyes that were the trademark silver color which Liz sported all the time. Noticing that, Zordrake was reminded of something, which he remarked upon. "The creatures of Grimm in Remnant would be at your mercy, kiddo." That startled a giggle out of Liz. "Of all the opportunities you had to tell me that, it had to be now? You have some lousy timing, that's for sure!" Zordrake smiled, knowing full well now that some way, somehow he had avoided a potential tragedy thanks to the internal dialogue Vennominaga must have been having before she spoke up. Zordrake was completely caught off-guard by Liz's next comment, however. "Vennominaga was planning on asking to share your bed as soon as she was assured of your forgiveness, by the way." It was as much the fact that Liz had said it as her deadpan delivery of the line that had Zordrake bawling with laughter at the sentence. That sounded like something the old Vennominaga would do so much that he couldn't help but laugh. Sadly, it seemed that there needed to be something said about the newfound meaninglessness of his vendetta against his former pupil, so, Zordrake voiced it once he had recovered from his laugh attack. "Sigh. Vennominaga, after seeing your present state, I can no longer bring about your demise out of revenge. I could only put an end to your misery out of sheer pity."

There. It was done. While the joke regarding Vennominaga's plans was a welcome distraction from the depressing mood, Zordrake felt he could no longer achieve his vendetta. In fact, it had gone from a revenge quest to a want to merely lay things to rest. _*Huh. This is not one of the more common possibilities I had foreseen. You were brought to your senses far sooner than I had thought. And Vennominaga tells me that this is twice now that you've been shocked back to sanity. You really need to stop letting yourself fall into madness. That aside, Vennominaga still needs to be dealt with. And as I would prefer, with you merely bringing her former glory to the present, as opposed to giving her a mercy kill.*_ Zordrake paused for a moment to process the information. And had two Questions. _*Alright then, Good Magician-*_ The mind voice was colored with good-natured laughter. _*Sorry, I just wasn't expecting to be called _that _of all things. You were saying?*_ Zordrake rolled his eyes. _*Two Questions. First, how did you get past my shields? And second, Possibilities? What other possibilties have you foreseen?*_ There was a pause, slight, but there. _*To answer the second first, the first __possibility I had seen was one where Vennominaga was actually non-repentant until after she had inducted Liz into the ranks of the Vennominaga Sect, and she had simply been forced out of Arya's body, only to be trapped in the body of her new host as the sole occupant. And Liz was the one who brought Naga around. You simply removed all vestiges of her power and over time, Vennominaga's power gradually returned. In each successive timeline I was able to perceive, Vennominaga grew more repentant, sooner, and your madness also returned, requiring extreme methods to dispel so you could see reason, or were otherwise forced to remove Vennominaga's very real curse of power, something I had been unaware of until I had a dream regarding Naga's past.* *I get it, so in all of the timelines you saw, Naga gets redeemed, I remove the thing which incurred the darkness which overtook her to begin with, and reconcile with her, and Everything's all hunkey-dory, Right!? Now if only the people reading this could decide what we're going to do about the revelation of my past, we wouldn't be sitting here, having this conversation while they were dying to know about my past to begin with! Answer the other Question already!* *Augh! Did you have to break the fourth wall!? Bad enough that Wade "Deadpool" Wilson has done it almost constantly since day one of his conception, and even wound up beating Wiz and Boomstick in a Death Battle against the Party Pony from MLP! You know the one! Do we seriously have to Break the Fourth Wall ourselves? Nevermind, don't answer that. _Dyheli _kingstag __level Mindspeech. Even you can't stop a _dyheli _kingstag from getting into your head. How else do you think you were kept from seeing much in Vennominaga's mind? Seriously man, actually use that intelligence God gave you for something useful, Jeez!*_ Well that answers those questions. Whoever this was, they were also in Liz's head. Kinda like- Zordrake blanched. _Just like BZ!_

* * *

A/N: Chapter 5 done! Longest chapter to date, and I'm just getting started!? Fourth wall breaks are such a doozy, I tell ya! I'm doing a poll right now asking whether Zordrake's past should be revealed via dialogue or flashback. The deadpan delivery for the "I ate her" line and the "I was planning to sleep with you after you forgave me" certainly are nice an all, and the first would even be funny if not for the fact that the situation was that serious. That said, at least things are getting interesting. I hid another Chekhov's gun in this Chapter, can you find it? Tell me if think you found it, would ya? And don't worry about the cliffhanger, That will be resolved in due time!


	7. Chapter 6: It Begins

A/N: It took me so long just to figure out what I wanted to do with this Chapter. I finally decided, well, to something that might be a little disruptive to the pacing. But hey, Mercedes Lackey pulled it off in her book "Redoubt" without missing a beat and made it the right kind of jarring. But that was dreams, this. Is. Different.

* * *

_What is she?_ Zordrake could only stare, knowing full well how rude it was, and unable to help staring in spite of that. Here before him was a strange creature, white fur covering its entire body save for the face, tail, and large horn. Those were covered in a black skin, and the horn was attached to the left temple as far as he could see. _An absol._ Zordrake took in the feline body, the irregularly shaped tail like a piece of a serated blade, the horn like the blade of a scythe, the eyes red like blood, and the face so easily a seamless melding of human and feline it was almost uncanny. The teeth she bore, however, took an otherwise adorable creature and gave it an unsettling vibe. Those teeth were designed for _razing_ flesh in a manner typically associated with those beasts of old who hunted man for his flesh. The critter turned her attention to him, licking her chops. Zordrake somehow got the impression that he should try and keep her from eating him by offering her something else. He didn't have anything on his person other than his Halloween candy, he'd been Trick-or-Treating tonight! Grabbing at random from his candy sack, Zordrake opened the wrapper on a chocolate bar, hoping he didn't regret having done this. The creature was transfixed by the smell of the chocolate bar, staring at it as if considering options. No, she was _e__nraptured_ by the smell of the chocolate bar. Being only four years old, Zordrake knew a good deal about reading body language. She was so badly torn between wanting to take a piece out of him for her twilight meal, and taking a piece out of the chocolate bar to see what it tasted like. Curiosity killed the cat on this one, as the critter's teeth clamped down on the third of the chocolate bar she could get into her mouth. And immediately melted in bliss at the taste. She was practically begging for the rest of the chocolate bar when she was done with the third she had snatched. Zordrake knew then: He'd screwed himself over with the chocolate bar.

* * *

The years pass, and the creature comes to eventually form a sort of kinship with Zordrake, who calls her Zoe Bane, stating in multiple occasions that if she were to disappear terms not their own, without his knowledge, then he would be devastated. Zordrake would add every time that no one had any idea how much that he had done to ensure that Zoe was independent, in spite of his being responsible for her becoming a civilized being, inspiring her to take up a form quite similar to a human's. Zoe thought the world of him, even though he took incredible pains to point out both their flaws quite often, and she flourished in his care, repaying his attentions by building him up stronger than he would've otherwise been. Between Zordrake and his parents, the creature whom he would grow to call his sister grew into an alluring young woman who, for all intents and purposes, inspired Zordrake to teach others in the use of their Gifts. Any time Zordrake found someone with powers they couldn't quite understand, be they mutant or otherwise, Zordrake would get to work on helping them at least understand and respect their abilities. Thus, it was because of this that resulted in Zordrake's first encounter with the top secret government agency known as the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, when a man by the name of Nicholas Fury came knocking on his parents front door asking about anything strange in the neighborhood.

"Only thing strange around here is a man asking too many questions," Zordrake stated when he heard the conversation in the living room. Fury looked at the kid, somewhat annoyed at some know-it-all high school student telling him what was and wasn't strange, and without even bothering to conceal his annoyance, loudly stated "I am here on account of some reports of strange goings on, like people tossing fire around like a softball, throwing their voices around and growing spikes when threatened, and you are insinuating that I am asking too many questions? Boy, do you have any idea about what you are..." Fury trailed off, as Threnody had come up behind Zordrake, along with one of the neighbor kids who looked like they were still tinkering with some terribly advanced equipment. Zoe of course, was in her natural absol form looking about ready to go find someplace to plop down and resume a nap she had obviously been in the middle of when the commotion started up in the living room. "Name's Zordrake Talon Infernus. I'm the teacher of the Gifted 'round these parts. This here gal wit da tech, she's my neighbor Courtney Higgs. Her father runs the local mine. And this here sleepy eyed critter's my sis, Zoe Bane. In case ya couldn' tell, she's adopted. And she 's a shapeshifter. Figure you're here to take my sis? She don't go no place without me where she can get to me without too much effort on her part or mine." Zordrake had intentionally used a slight enough country accent that conveyed his opinion on Fury's apparent reason for being here. Fury put his face in his hands. This kid clearly intended to make his job a convoluted mess. He was no longer looking forward to seeing the end of this job concluded, as he'd been sent to grab the anomalies and return to base. Nothing had been said about a random kid making a mess of an otherwise fairly simple job. Zordrake then took it upon himself to remind Fury of a particular detail he had previously mentioned. "Like I said, I'm a teacher for the Gifted. _That means I help anyone with powers understand how those powers work and the best application for those powers._ Just keep in mind, where I go, Zoe goes too, Period. I'm the only one who can keep her from causing irreparable damage, and she knows it. Also keep in mind, I don't give her specs to just anyone. You gotta be someone who I can trust for absolute certain with that information. And people like that are few and far in between, not to mention a non-event." That last gave Fury an idea. "Boy, how good are you at keeping secrets?" Zordrake measured Fury with a critical eye. "I can take a secret to the grave if need be. My students' specs are something I intend to do exactly that with. That includes my sis." Fury replied "Very well then. Consider yourself qualified for Shield Academy. If you want to. Otherwise, once you're ready, you can head to the coordinates on this card to make yourself available for the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics division." Zordrake shot back "In other words, S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Fury replied "Yes. S.H.I.E.L.D. That is what we call ourselves for short. I originally came here to retrieve your sister and the rest of your students, and bring them back to headquarters, as you surmised. However, you threw a wrench in what was originally a very simple task, by saying what you did. How smart is the miner's daughter, there?" Zordrake smiled, with Courtney answering "I have an IQ of 197, sir. And my father spent time in the Army. He's been through 'Nam and Korea, sir." Fury smiled for the first time during this trip. "Then consider yourselves both qualified for for S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. If you make it through the academy, I believe you both have a place as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Here are the coords for where you need to go. When you are ready, come see us, and then we'll see what we can make of you." Zordrake knew then he had to prepare his sister for when he did end up parting ways with her.

* * *

Zordrake was twenty when it happened. His parents had died as a result of a gang war erupting to the point of breaking into a fire fight. He had been walking home with his sister, when the gang war escalated into another fire fight, separating them in the chaos. Zordrake only survived unscathed because one of the kids he had taught the use his powers to had recognized him and prevented Zordrake from coming to physical harm while he was in the line of fire, redirecting the strays veering towards Zordrake into the opposing gang. When all was said and done, Zordrake was frantic. He knew that he would have to part ways with his sister eventually, after all, he'd wanted to become a Shield agent so he could help others in the use of their powers. That didn't stop him from worrying himself into a frenzy because of her disappearance. Bad enough that the gang war had taken his parents, Courtney had already gone to S.H.I.E.L.D. Tech with her Cybertronian friend, Rhianon, so she was out of his reach. Now even his sister whom he had met on that fateful Halloween night was lost to him. After frantically searching for her, calling her name beyond the point where his throat had gone hoarse from yelling, denying himself precious sleep, and not even stopping for even a drink of water for two nights and two and a half days, Zordrake finally returned home, having lost his sanity as a result of being unable to find his sister. He only collapsed on the bed he had so often shared with his sister, his thoughts incoherent, cycling noncessantly, and no sense to be made of them at all when he finally flopped onto his back, his arm underneath him at an odd angle, only to lose himself to the blackness of sleep.

Zordrake awoke to the sound of someone making disapproving noises at his sleeping form. Thinking that someone had come to dash his chances of ever reuniting with his sister once and for all, he got up out of the bed. That is, he would have, if not for the fact that the bed felt too soft to be his own, his bed was almost as hard as his bedroom floor! His eyes flew open as he heard a sound that he didn't recognize just out the window of the room he was in only to find himself face to face with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Skin scarlet like a sunset, two big spots marking her eyes and brow white as chalk, eyes a soft brown, and what Zordrake could only rightly describe as head tails trailing from a head crest adorned with a pair of horns with a wide base all striped with chalk white and powdery azure blue. She was tall, of a slim build like someone who had trained all their life as warrior and spent it fighting, training, and studying when not dealing with basic necessities. Zordrake met her gaze, and the next thing he knew, he was gasping for air on the floor _and_ bed in two different bodies like a fish out of water. Or was he actually a she? He couldn't tell. All he knew was that he had to get the female body on a surface more forgiving than the floor. Extending his awareness, as he had so often instructed his psychic students, Zordrake managed to gain control of the female body (which felt rather like that of the time he had inadvertantly had his mind pulled entirely into the body of a mutant telepath who had ultimately found herself better able to understand his intentions after _that_ particular incident led to their discovering the birds and the bees as a result, the relationship degressed into the platonic after the experience failed to yield anything for either of them), and moved the body over to the other side of the bed under its own locomotion. Zordrake then saw about sifting through the memories inherent in the body, and was shocked to find out that he was someplace where Earth wasn't even an existing concept! Quickly Zordrake absorbed all the knowledge this woman had, and before working to correct the body situation the way he did with the one girlfriend he'd had, Zordrake decided to give the lady his own knowledge, being careful of what he allowed her to know. His language, past, and where he came from. After depositing this knowledge into her head, Zordrake set their bodies to rights, now very definitely sane. He opened his eyes again, thankful that his one-time girlfriend had had a bad habit of confusing bodies with him so often that he'd basically ensured that the two of them could sort out whose mind belonged where and how to sift through memories and exchange information in the process. Sarah Tiraeus was the woman's name. She was long in recovering from the experience, and Zordrake decided to stay with the woman so that she didn't have to wonder what had happened.

* * *

Zordrake found himself on many an adventure with Sarah Tiraeus. They ultimately had a son together, whom they named Schwarzadalar Infernus. After a while, Zordrake parted ways with his love, leaving her his name and taking his son with him when he ultimately did leave the place where his love remained. He didn't care that he would never see her again, they had enjoyed a good life together. Upon returning to his old neighborhood with his teenage son, Zordrake learned that another of his wife's species was captive at a nearby lab facility fairly quickly. Working fast, Zordrake and Schwarz were able to extract the girl, Khali'ai, and bring her back to his home.

* * *

A/N: A cliffhanger and unanswered questions. What happens when Zordrake returns home with Schwarz and Khali? Does Zordrake get into S.H.I.E.L.D.? What will happen to Schwarz and Khali? Stay tuned for the next chapter, coming soon, same time, same channel!


	8. Xordrayk Compendium: Page 1

A note from the writer: This is a little side venture I decided to take up, as it might help others understand what Xordrayks, also known as _kyuubi no ryu kitsune_, really are, what they're capable of, and what they simply cannot do. Let's start with the very first of the xordrayks, shall we?

The Black Xordrayk: Zordrake Talon Infernus

The first thing to note about Mr. Infernus is the fact that his main continuity variant is what's known as an Artificial Xordrayk, meaning his original species is not of the kitsune species. Zordrake might be the progenitor of the species, so to speak, being the first of the Xordrayks I created to be characters in literary works, the second being a DC universe counterpart to Yuko Shinosake, whose development was rather similar to Zordrake's, as she started as mere Zorua and "evolved" as time went on, with her growth being more akin to stages of physical maturation than Pokemon evolution as Zordrake's development was, however, Zordrake is by no means the first actual Xordrayk, as historically speaking, the traditional kitsune of Japan will have no doubt toyed with and even experimented with this particular concept long before I was ever thought of to begin with.

As this is merely the first chapter to the compendium, I will lay out how each chapter is organized. The first thing will be a brief overview of the individual, relating the essentials to understanding how each of the ryu kitsune developed in my mind, what they ultimately were created as characters, or just a few random facts about them I happened to discover as I developed the character in Question, with all of these providing spoilers for "The Light in the Darkness" in regards to each of these characters, should they appear in that admittedly massive undertaking. Next will effectively be a run of the mill statistics sheet including what their type as a Pokemon, their Type and Attribute as a monster in Yu-Gi-Oh!, and what powers and abilities they might have. So, here it is.

Xordrayk type: Artificial  
Yu-Gi-Oh! Attribute/Type: DARK/Spellcaster  
Pokemon type: Dark-Psychic  
Augments: High-caliber Space-Time travel spell, Force-Sensitivity, Automail  
Abilities: Reality Manipulation, Shapeshifting, Minor Energy Manipulation, Spellcasting  
Personality: Hardened soldier, devoted family man, pursues vengeance to the point of near blindness to all else  
Prefered Equipment: Burster Shrapnel Gun, Lightsabers, Fishbones Grenadee launcher, Duel Disk, Leviathan Custom Duel Runner/D-Wheel  
Dueling Deck: Dark World Reality  
Natural Appearance: Bipedal Zoroark/Dragon hybrid colored black with a black-streaked violet red mane and green eyes, at 6'5" tall  
Alternate Appearance: Black-streaked violet red hair cropped short, green caucasian eyes, lightly tanned skin, 6'3" tall, wearing a black and green armored drover, green T-shirt, black cargo pants, black boots, and Mandalorian gear colored black and green  
Dream Creatures: Pyromander, Corcraw, Troyice  
Specialization: Spatio-temporal travel  
Damage type: Radiant


	9. Chapter 7: To Be Human

When Zordrake awoke, he remembered vaguely that he had done something that would color his decisions in the future. Something that he had felt was grave enough that he couldn't live with the consequences. Zordrake managed to pick out the voice of a woman, singing an old drinking song he thought he'd heard some time ago. "...Put him in a bed with the captain's daughter, put him in a bed with the captain's daughter, put him in a bed with the captain's daughter early in the morning! A way, hey, and up she rises, a way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning! And that's what you do with a drunken sailor, and that's what you do with a drunken sailor, and that's what you do with a drunken sailor early in the morning! Way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning!" The singer had entered the doorway to his room, letting him know exactly where he was instantaneously. Courtney Higgs rather unnecessarily greeted Zordrake "Welcome at long last to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ."

"Why am I not in a hole in the ground?" The question might not have had much meaning to most people as they would assume that the querent had either recently survived what should've been a fatal ordeal, or felt they belonged quite literally in a hole in the ground with all the comforts of home. Agents Phil Coulson, Courtney Higgs, and Rhiannon, alongside Threnody and Zoe Bane knew otherwise. They all knew he would be dead right now if not for the Tahiti Project. Zordrake had ended up one of the test subjects, and so far, had shown no indication that he was going to display any unwanted side effects. Threnody was the first to speak up. "I can't imagine a life where you aren't alive, brother." Zoe scoffed, triggering a question in Zordrake's mind which was quickly answered via observation, as Zoe's human form had her as being ever so slightly taller and thinner than Threnody, as Threnody had clearly filled out to where while Zoe was indeed more tall and slim compared to Threnody, Threnody had broader shoulders and a stockier build, while still managing to be sexily skinny in addition to having the chest to match her broad shoulders. Zoe's horn was also noticeably longer than Threnody's. Zoe even had longer legs than Threnody. The question which kept nagging him, however, was who this absol even was. Zordrake didn't even realize he had voiced the question until Threnody spoke up. "Brother, this is my sister, Zoe. I think you should probably talk to her the same way you first did that night so many years ago before bringing me home for the first time." Zoe huffed in disdain.

Courtney asked what that would entail. Zordrake simply asked for a chocolate bar, causing Threnody to squeeze her eyes shut, cover her nose and ears, and turn away from her sister, who looked about ready to tear into something in response to her sisters reaction, with the words of "I am _not_ putting human food in my mouth! That stuff is disgusting at the best of times, and and don't get me _started _on the worst!" flying out of her mouth in the span of time that it took for Courtney to return with the requested chocolate bar. Zordrake then told Coulson to leave the room, this was need to know basis only, and he didn't need to know. When Coulson left the room, Zordrake grabbed the chocolate bar from Courtney, and opened the wrapper. Threnody quickly responded to this by going as far from the chocolate without leaving the room as she could. Zoe was dubious. Zordrake then told her to take a bite before her sister couldn't control herself anymore. Zoe thought that this was going to be like the most disgusting thing she had ever tasted up to this point, and not wanting to find out what Zordrake meant by her sister losing control, took the advised bite. This action saw Zordrake remove the rest of the wrapper after breaking off a piece and handing it to Zoe along with the rest of the chocolate bar while she placed the first piece into her mouth. Zordrake smiled like an idiot when Zoe tasted the chocolate, as he now knew that between these two, no piece of chocolate of any variety would ever be safe in their presence again. And Zoe was practically begging for more before she even finished with the chocolate bar.

* * *

"Why do you have a shrub for a beard when just last week, when I saw you last, you were clean-shaven?" The question came from out of nowhere, and was uncharacteristic of Courtney. She typically used logic when she popped an inquiry. Zordrake decided to do something about this. "Courtney, find Rhiannon. You're coming to my place. I need to explain a few things which I need to get off my chest." Courtney corrected Zordrake by saying that they actually had a mission to deal with, she asked the question hoping to make sense of something. "Besides," she added, "you said nothing about having a non-regulation amount of facial hair when you returned." Zordrake shot back "I didn't even know I was here before yesterday to begin with! Did my future self drop by or something!?" "No comment," Rhiannon interrupted. And that was the end of it.

Later, Zordrake was showing off his abilities in fatal fashion an effort to free his friend from Hydra, exhibiting a ruthlessness that was actually beginning to rattle the Hydra agents present. They knew he was on the Gifted Index, but his file hadn't mentioned anything about his actual abilities, or his combat prowess. And he was utilizing both with lethal efficiency. A blast of energy erupted from the building nearby, causing everyone who hadn't seen it coming to be knocked over by the resulting shockwave. Of course, the shockwave only heralded something even worse: a Terragen storm. All the Hydra agents were unfortunate in that they were turned to stone by the cloud. Zordrake himself was on the ground unaware of anything transpiring, covered in the mist. The mist dispersed as Rhiannon and another Cybertronian emerged from the building. Zordrake got up, feeling like his body wasn't what it was supposed to be, and became sorely puzzled when his body actually reverted to normal in response to this. Looking up, Zordrake registered Rhiannon had not returned with Courtney as he recognized. Then the other Cybertronian spoke up in Courtney's voice asking if he was alright. Zordrake answered "Actually, I might as well go back to simply teaching the Gifted as opposed to fighting Hydra agents. That means I'm moving out. First things first, I'm heading home. Care to join me?" Exchanging looks, Courtney, Zordrake, and Rhiannon just simply started walking towards the extraction point while singing the following:  
_"What do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor early in the morning? Way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and she rises, way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning! Shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor early in the morning! Way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning! Stick him in a longboat til he's sober, stick him in a longboat til he's sober, stick him in a longboat til he's sober early in the morning! Way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning! Leave him in a barrel with a horse pipe on him, leave him in a barrel with a horse pipe on him, leave him in a barrel with a horse pipe on him early in the morning! Way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and she rises, way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning! Put him in the bed with the captain's daughter, put him in the bed with the captain's daughter, put in the bed with captain's daughter early in the morning! Way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning! That's what we do with a drunken sailor, that's what we do with a drunken sailor, that's what we do with a drunken sailor early in the morning! Way, hey and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning! Way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises, way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning!"_

* * *

Zordrake was looking this girl up and down, trying to get her measure. She was nervous as a chicken who knows a fox is on the other side of the fence waiting to get to her, and rightly so. No one thus far had ever taught her the proper use of her powers and abilities, and she didn't know the first thing about how to use them. Hair flowing like gold silk to about mid chest in length, eyes like rich amethysts, and otherwise an average looking, if beauty like this one possessed could be said to be average, Japanese girl who actually happened to be his age. Her defining features were that she was what a young man with dirty blonde hair he had met sometime before would have described as a Drachdrache, or dragon woman. Zordrake already had a nickname for this woman: Aether. With scales the same gold as her hair, and four wings, she cut an impressive figure. The wings of course were shaped similarly to bat wings, however, they were also sized and placed differently than what you would expect. She had a massive primary wingspan of 30 feet, and those massive wings were attached at her shoulder blades. She also had a secondary wingspan of 20 feet, and those wings were attached at the hip, just above the femur. And her tail effectively tripled her overall body length at 15 feet, and boasted quite the absurd ability to extend and contract in addition to being prehensile enough to pass as an extremely flexible snake if not for the fact that was attached to this woman's pert derriere. What's more, her legs were very much of the toe-standing variety, and the result was a form which seamlessly blended human and dragon traits together to boast a very sexy figure which was made for aerial acrobatics of an intensely complex nature. In other words, this girl was attractive to the point where she was presenting quite the temptation for Zordrake. Zordrdake was quick to remind himself both of how well the last romantic relationship between himself and one of his students went, and the promise he had made to his late wife that the only woman to physically birth his biological children would be no one other than those she had personally chose for the task. And the only one whom she had selected was one Ahsoka Tano, whom Zordrake was inclined to simply just leave untouched by his hand, save for whatever ministrations the girl permitted. Sarah Tiraeus wasn't any place Zordrake knew of where he could simply speak to her, so he was inclined to keep this particular female out of his pants as he had sufficient reason to do so.

Yuko Shinosake was nervous beyond all belief. She'd had no reason to believe that Zordrake, a perfectly normal guy with blonde hair, brown eyes, and a lanky, muscular build and no deformities to speak of, would be perfectly willing to do anything other than simply dismiss her or drive her away when he found out about her true nature, as so many others were inclined to do. That the first thing he said to her after this was a joke about how he would've been perfectly willing to steal virginity if she had it, if not for the fact that she was officially his student and he'd have to have his wife look her over before making such an action knocked the wind out of her, figuratively dislodging her jaw in the process. This guy was making a joke about bedding _her,_ of all people! Zordrake laughed at her expression. "Sorry if I didn't meet your expectations, but you did say you wanted me to teach you how to fly." He became more serious. "If I'd of known about what you were intending to use the knowledge for, then I would have ordered some oil and sand to add to my stock. You look like you could use a good buffing. In addition, I would advise a sand bath in addition to the buffing. You aren't the first one to really need such treatment whom I've taught. And as far as those flight lessons are concerned, Sir Instinct will be my assistant on that score. Before we get started, I will have to ask you to do a few things to remedy some problems I think will cause issue. Not the least of which includes the aforementioned sand bath I threatened."

* * *

Yuko Shinosake was not the first of Zordrake's Gifted pupils, and she most certainly wasn't the last. Financially, Zordrake was pretty close to having savings in the tens of billions, so he wasn't worried about financial troubles at all. Nor did he have to worry about not having anything to worry about, he worried himself silly about his newly adopted (or newly built in the case of his first) daughters. In addition to this, Yuko had quickly found herself married to a man by the name of Clay Stinger, and had kids of her own. Clarice Ann Stinger, Joseph Stinger, and Bear Stinger were all very fond of Zordrake, and considered him to be their adoptive father in place of their actual father, who was off elsewhere so often that Zordrake had actually been named the children's god father. Hera, Zordrake's eldest daughter, was an autonomous weather robot capable of human thought processes, designed to resemble a fairy when in flight. A different, more advanced model of Hera was made for the sole purpose of weather prediction and manipulation and named Epsilon, who prioritized her primary programming to a far greater extent than Hera, as Hera was designed and built to be a mechanical version of Storm of the X-Men in her early teenage years, with admittedly noticeable differences between the two. Alexander was admittedly the oddest of Zordrake's three daughters, as she had hatched out of an egg which had been given to him by a female Hungarian Horntail dragon, who had given him a second egg which had hatched into the expected dragon hatchling which he had named rather ironically Winterhart, whereas Alex was a human female when she had hatched. In fact, Alex and Winterhart's mother had actually dumped dragonic into Zordrake's skull of her own accord in order to ensure that Zordrake gave Winterhart the treatment she deserved. Unfortunately, Zordrake would still intentionally garble the translation if he could get away with it. Of course, Zordrake was up to mischief in regards to translating Winterhart's speech yet once again when a peculiar presence put an end to the quarreling. A presence which, in Zordrake's mind, belied an individual who commanded the masses as easily as breathing.

* * *

"I'd heard that there was someone here who specialized in the teaching of the Gifted. So far, I only see a dragon having an argument with a human over some slight," were the condescending words that flew out of the mouth of someone Zordrake would've been willing to bet four hundred trillion of the Republic credits he'd accrued over the years was at least royalty, if not a del facto monarch. Zordrake decided to see if he would win such a bet. "And I could swear that you're royalty, or my name isn't Zordrake Talon Infernus!" This startled a laugh out of the stranger, who replied "Well then, I guess we'll just have to get our eyes checked, now won't we, Zordrake? My name is Vennominaga. I'm the leader and namesake of the aptly named Vennominaga Sect, and my sources said you were a teacher of the Gifted, not someone who spoke with dragons like it's no big deal." Zordrake couldn't help but respond enthusiastically to the fact that he'd had his suspicions confirmed on top of gaining some very valuable information, as it sounded like this "Vennominaga Sect" was actually a fairly recent cult all things considered. After all, Vennominaga herself didn't look to be any older than sixteen! "Apologies for intruding in your thoughts without your permission, but this body is merely a vessel to allow me to directly affect the physical world, in other words, a host for a being which couldn't otherwise do very much in the grand scheme of things in the material world. I'm oft referred to as the Deity of Poisonous Snakes, I'll have you know, in addition to the fact that the sect has been around since around the time of Y'hoshua of Nazareth's crucifixion, on account of the fact that I actually took a leaflet out of that wonderful man's book, and gathered something of a personal cult of my own. In respect for the man, whom I actually spoke with on a couple of occasions, I heavily discourage any attempts to worship me as a deity, for I am but a restless spirit incapable of leaving this plane who holds respect for, but does not worship, the deities belonging to other religions. I'd rather be treated as a leader of an organization than a god, plain and simple." Vennominaga's frankness took Zordrake by surprise, as he was most certainly not expecting someone like this to be so forthright with _him_ of all people at the first encounter. That aside, Zordrake simply replied "Then let's have a look at what you can do then, shall we?"

* * *

Zordrake sighed. It had been a long time since then. Bear was so far turning out to be quite the prodigy in the medical profession, and proved to actually be something of an innovator in the medical field, even teaching Zordrake all of the essentials in regards to dealing with all but the most grievous of wounds. In the meantime, Vennominaga had proven that there was more to her than meets the eye, as she had actually flat-out told him to stop thinking he had to handle her like glass, she was more akin to one of the harder gems like quartz and diamond, catching him off his guard entirely. He had expected to be told off for being unnecessarily gentle with one of his students, especially not the current situation of being informed to be rough as absolutely necessary by the student receiving the treatment! Of course, Vennominaga took advantage of Zordrake's bewilderment to make an incredibly daring request which shook him back into awareness. She wanted to sleep with him so he could stop longing after her. Zordrake remembered that time all too well. He'd turned to regard her fully with his attention, and then told her that he didn't know how she'd come under the illusion that he'd been wanting to sleep with _her_, but the last time he'd tried for a lasting relationship with one of his students, the relationship had devolved entirely to being merely that of master and student, and going beyond a strictly platonic relationship with his students was impossible. On top of that, his own wife had exacted a promise from him to run any prospective bedmates by her first before agreeing to hitting second base with said bed partners. If not for the fact that he preferred to keep the promises he made, and he was generally good about not making promises he couldn't keep, he'd've accepted that invitation in a heartbeat, possibly even less. Having been so informed, Vennominaga informed Zordrake that she had to admit defeat there, she couldn't refute a truth stated by mouth, mind, and soul, but one thing she could do was ensure her continued knowledge of when he was and wasn't lying, and thus keep him honest in the process. How Vennominaga could keep Zordrake honest was beyond him. Zordrake chuckled to himself at the memory. And as if the the thought had summoned her, Vennominaga, who'd revealed that she held a degree of trust with him which she shared with few others other the millenia, as her public persona was named Cobralily, she appeared asking about a concern her sister Winterhart had. "Since when has Winter been your sister?" Zordrake spluttered. Vennominaga merely shot back "Since I started treating you like you were my father. Are you going to solve the issue or not?" Zordrake sighed. It would be just his luck to be adopted as a father to royalty, wouldn't it?

* * *

Zordrake was awoken by the the ringing of the phone. He scrambled to snag it as he stumbled out of his bed. Too late. Someone else had already gotten to it. "Zordrake, it's for you!" Vennominaga called from the kitchen. Zordrake picked up the phone and heard Vennominaga verbally pass the baton to him before he managed to say "Zordrake Infernus speaking." The answer was not what he was expecting. "Could you meet us at the King's Cross? Fifteen minutes? We're headed your way." Puzzled, Zordrake replied "Sure-" only for the caller to hang up. Zordrake set the phone back on its hook and sighed. It had been five long years since someone had come to him so as to learn to harness their errant powers properly, and three years since his last pupil had finished learning everything they could from him in regards to said errant powers. And yet, Vennominaga was still staying in his house, even though she had already mastered being essentially a patron deity. Now, she was effectively making him teach her everything either of them could think of. And funnily enough, they were both enjoying the experience thoroughly. Zordrake changed into his night suit, and got Vennominaga roused enough that she could follow his directions without to much trouble. Upon making sure of that, Zordrake roused Rhiannon, getting the odd feeling that it was going to be one of those encounters. And wouldn't you know it, but Zordrake was quickly proven right upon arrival.

At the King's Cross Train Station in London, Zordrake, Vennominaga, Courtney, and Rhiannon all arrived in fairly short order. They were greeted by what appeared to be a family of togrutas consisting of no more than a couple and their infant child. On closer inspection, however, the "togrutas" turned out to be Zordrake's own daughter-in-law, son, and _granddaughter_. Khali'ei and Schwarzadalar Infernus cut to the chase by simply saying in unison "take us to your place yesterday," and simply piled into the sedan. After a silent ride back to Zordrake's house, Schwarzadalar turned to his father and harshly whispered "Sir, something is different about you and I can sense it. What happened?" Zordrake sighed. There was no hope for it. They were going to find out eventually, why keep the truth from them? Zordrake took note of Vennominaga's barely concealed attentiveness and decided there was no harm in her finding out either. However, there was something which needed to be addressed before he told his tale. "Before I tell my exciting tale of adventure and romance, Schwarz, I would like to know why you came here with your newly born child and your wife where _people could see fit to kill all three of you?_" Zordrake's son sighed in response, but kept silent. Khali'ei spoke up instead, with an irritated glance at her husband before speaking. "We came here because we didn't know who else to turn to. You certainly weren't free with advice on parenting or naming newborns when last we spoke. In other words, _Father,_ could you help us name our daughter?" Khali was not outwardly surprised when Vennominaga spoke up in response. "She comes across as an Elizabeth to me, Since I have a good taste of her scent. And Zordrake, why didn't you say anything about having kids before now?" Zordrake flinched at Vennominaga speaking up, with his son looking like he'd been hit upside the head with a board at the same time. Zordrake blanched when Vennominaga stated his relation to Schwarz and Khali. Khali was again the one who spoke up. "Because he doesn't want ammunition against him when dealing with his enemies. Worse, His enemies generally tend to be crazy enough to want him in hell by their own hands so they can dance on his grave for an eternity afterwards. He can't afford to take chances, even if he's found a way to keep any ears on him from ever feeding their owners the right information." Khali would've said more, but a knock on the door quickly silenced Khali in favor of stealing behind cover with her infant child alongside her husband. Vennominaga promptly answered the door, uttering a few words which quickly had anyone listening snickering quietly. "It's 0200 in the bloody a.m.! State your business and leave me alone!" After some hushed conversation beyond even Zordrake's present ability to hear (he only heard what could be described as a pair of snakes having a hissing match), including a gesture towards Zordrake, the conversation ended off with Vennominaga saying "Follow those orders to the letter, to my satisfaction, or you're dead, Bjorn. Now beat it before I change my mind about squeezing the life from your body right now!"  
Zordrake, having been assured of no further interruptions, related to those present what had happened to him just nights before. Long story short, after meeting a mysterious man who turned out to be a mage who gains his power from the suffering of others, he had been turned into a quasi-human creature resembling a fox, and now he wasn't sure if he was even human anymore, even after stealing something from the mage as recompense. And he wasn't even sure how he had managed to retain his human appearance after all that had happened. Explaining this broke something in Zordrake, causing him to black out for long enough that he was sure that he'd done something irrevocable. When he recovered, Zordrake was relieved to find out that the worst that had happened was his threatening to lick his own granddaughter to death, and succeeding in at least washing her face, doggy style. Relieved at their father's assurance, everyone decided to turn in for the morning, at least for a couple hours anyway.

The following morning after they all spent some time catching up, Zordrake and his kids were to be found at the King's Cross Station in London again, saying their farewells and expressing wishes to see each other again sometime soon, when a sniper's bullet pierced through Zordrake, Scwharzadalar, and Khali'ei, killing all three of them. Vennominaga's scream was the only sound of foreboding amidst the resulting chaos, as Zordrake's body turned to black mist before hitting the ground, while Elizabeth's wails were only registered by Vennominaga, who promptly checked the girl for injuries, only to have the sniper's bullet pierce her belly. feeling the effects of the toxin lacing the bullet, Vennominaga's rage was beyond allowing for reason as she warped her body to her terrible true form, which resembled a Yuan-Ti hybrid from Dungeons and Dragons in all its terrible glory. Vennominaga quickly summoned the sniper to her side as she used the last of the breath in her present body to command the source of the sniper's kill orders from the unfortunate fool, a response which only served to increase her anger. Elizabeth in her arms, and the child's parents' bodies in tow, Vennominaga brought everyone affected by the shooting who'd been at the train station at the time to the Vennominaga Sect's headquarters in London and left the sniper with orders that they kill anyone who dared enter the door she then proceeded to enter until she told them otherwise. Upon returning in a new body to find Elizabeth missing, Vennominaga's rage reached new heights as she killed the sniper for failure, and then Vennominaga proceeded to order her second in command before her. Bjorn was quickly disabused of any notions of being rewarded for his actions as Vennominaga fell upon him in a rage so potent, she was little more than an animal culling the herd, thus messily killing Bjorn and inflicting as much pain as she could while she did so. Vennominaga mourned the loss of her father, brother, sister-in-law, and niece in the following hours, and proceeded to bring her suffering to an end. And Vennominaga began this process by collecting Hera, Alexander, and Winterhart, and bundling them to the place where her suffering began: _Shadow Island_.

* * *

A/N: An interesting Chapter, the second in a series of chapters which will be focusing almost exclusively on Zordrake Talon Infernus the Black Xordrayk, charting his journey to rediscover himself. This journey will see Zordrake encountering some of the characters previously encountered earlier in this book as well as finding new friends as he journeys across the omniverse in search of who he is. And if you thought these last two chapters were a little off, well, I just told you why.

P.S. The Xordrayk Compendium pages will be making random appearances throughout this book and compiled into their own separate entry in my Collection of Stories. Keep your eyes peeled, people!


	10. Xordrayk Compendium: Page 2

The Etherious/Black Etherious Xordrayk: Benjamin Ben Dani'El, a.k.a. Amadeus Ramses Wolf IV

A noted aspect of Dani'El is that he's also known as The Prophet, simply on account of his being the mouthpiece of the Divines. Exclusive to Fairy Tail and Ben 10, Dani'El boasts some fairly lackluster powers as a Xordrayk, lacking anything truely ground breaking in terms of what he can and cannot do. On paper anyways. In practice, the self-proclaimed EX/BEX is every bit as devastating as any other xordrayk, in spite of being a Cursed Xordrayk, meaning he gets his xordrayk status as a result of being created that way. Having multiple forms to choose from is par for the course as a member of the kitsune species, however, Dani'El is severely limited in the forms he can assume, with one of those forms granting him a surprising amount of fluidity in particular circumstances. While his Obscurus form allows for unprecedented freedom of movement coupled with destructive ability, his Thep Khufan form has a symbiotic ability allowing Amadeus to possess a host, actually adapting to the host body to account for the host's physiology, powers, and abilities. This has the unfortunate side effect of causing Amadeus to match his host's gender in the process, thus requiring him to assume the Ramses persona as a female and the Amadeus persona as male to avoid confusion. Being the self-proclaimed third strongest of the Gods of Ishtar, Dani'El boasts a knowledge of spells and improvisational ability rivaled and surpassed by precious few, having the ability to summon insane amounts of destructive power in exchange for part of his ever decreasing life span. Being the Guildmaster of the Clockwork Guild certainly has its perks!

Xordrayk Type: Cursed  
Yu-Gi-Oh! Atrribute/Type: LIGHT/Fiend [DARK/Fairy]  
Pokemon Type: Dragon/Fairy [Dragon/Dark]  
Augments: Grimoire Abilities: Spellcasting, Minor Energy Manipulation, Symbiotic Possession, Prophecy  
Personality: Take-no-prisoners, brash, Sore loser (Pre-Serpentian Kingdom); Serious, easily bored (Guildmaster)  
Prefered Equipment: Random sword-type weapon, Spellbook, Grimoire.  
Magic type: Etherius Dragon Slayer [Black Etherius Dragon Slayer]  
Natural appearance: Dragogryph/werejackal hybrid with blue [black] mane and bodily markings with otherwise dark colored fur and feathers and blue [black] eyes  
Alternate Appearances: (human) Egyptian with blue [black] chest-length hair and heavily tanned skin accompanied by blue [black] eyes, (Thep Khufan) recently interred Egyptian mummy in stereotypical and minimalistic Egyptian pharaoh attire with blue eyes, (Obscurus) Black mist of varying volumes  
Specialization: Power  
Damage Type: Bludgeoning


	11. Chapter 8: The Ancient Magus' Bride

Renfred waited for Ainsworth with Angelica and Alice at the King's Cross train station in London while a centaur and two other fae folk examined the body responsible for a massive stir in the station. Elias arrives with Chise in tow, getting to the heart of the matter by asking why Renfred and Angelica are both present. Alice answers by directing them to the still-warm body, which shows signs of life at that moment. Unfortunately, said signs of life are rather violent. Thrashing about and up, what is now clearly a werefox with what could only be described as a mane of oddly colored hair manages to thrash its way on to its hindquarters and then proceeded to rush out of the train station. Ainsworth and company chase after the creature, only to find an American in black and green clothing breathing heavily and leaning against a nearby lamp post. Catching his breath in a surprisingly short amount of time, he looks about and then darts off as if in a panic. The group pursues the man, hoping he'll know something about the strange creature which ran out of the train station not even a moment before.

The group finds the man standing in front of a house when he gives a shrill whistle, waits for about a minute, and then knocks on the door after scratching his head. When someone answers the door, the man asks if he could enter the premises, to which he is allowed in. After a few minutes, the man comes back out apologizing for the intrusion, he just wanted to check something. He then sags against a nearby lamp post as if in defeat, muttering unintelligibly. Chise is the one to approach first. Before she can say anything, however, a sword is at her throat. The man withdraws the blade within an instant, sheathing it and telling her not to worry about the werefox, it merely had a panic attack and bolted for quieter environs. The man then does a double take, exclaiming "Wait, you're-" before realizing his error and performing an apologetic Japanese bow while saying "My deepest apologies! Until just now, I didn't realize that you were Japanese. My name is Drake Infernus and if you'll pardon my asking, is that your natural hair color? I once had a student who was also Japanese with that particular hair color, but they told me they dyed it that particular color." He had come out of his bow by that time, and had pointedly kept his gaze straight ahead and his expression blank, clearly waiting for Chise to respond. In startlement, Chise replied "I-it's okay. Th-this is my natural hair color." Elias and the others had gathered near Chise at this time, giving Drake a chance to prove whether he had the sight or not. Upon spotting the centaur, Drake's composure failed him. "Is that what I think it is?" Drake inquired, pointing at the centaur. The centaur smirked and told Elias "It would seem this one has the sight, hm?" Elias nodded in response. Having heard the exchange, Drake grabbed his hair out of sheer incredulousness while saying to no one in particular "A centaur. And I thought living with and raising a dragon was nothing short of a big deal and took it for granted!" That caught everyone's attention. Elias stammered "You l-lived with and raised a dragon!?" Drake turned to Elias and let go of his hair, saying "Did I say that out loud? Small matter. All I really am for sure is a teacher of the Gifted." Chise and Alice perked up at that last, with Renfred saying " Are you implying...?" Drake responded "I am no great spellcaster. I merely allow others to more solidly grasp the full extent of their power through self-discovery." Drake gained a wistful expression. "Now if I could only be rid of the power which had been forced upon me so late in life. I was content as a human. I only wished to gain another student so I could continue my passion: the realization of others' potential." Alice and Chise exchanged a look and caught Drake directing his wistful expression at them. Elias and Renfred noticed this and nodded to each other, surprising their students by asking when Drake would like to begin. Drake stammered a response about possibly a local church after the morning services might be a good time.

Zordrake could hardly believe it himself. Here he was, training a magus and a sorceress to surpass what they had originally thought they were capable of. In addition to having a dark secret which was coming dangerously close to eating him alive, the added pressure of performing to the expectations of the girls' respective teachers was wearing him down to mere dregs. In addition to all this, he was presenting a facade of being far more resilient to the usual hazards that came from teaching spellcasters with more energy than experience than he actually was. Just as well that he was putting on a brave face for his audience, as he didn't know if he would be able to hold up under the pressure for as long as he hoped. It was for this reason that the opportunity to meet with a few dragons was met with much enthusiasm and relief in his response when it was brought up. "Elias, I believe that would be an excellent idea! Will Alice and Renfred be coming along with, or will she have to get along without me for a while?" Discovering Elias' true visage had been a surprise for sure, and with Ainsworth's eyes and scent providing the only clues to his feelings as his head was little more than a skull. Zordrake suspected Elias of being a Wendigo, but decided to treat Elias as what he was: an elder being trying to understand and emulate human behavior. As such, what Zordrake read in Elias' expression now said that he had no intention of bringing Renfred or Alice on this trip, which Zordrake decided he would give Chise and Alice the appropriate news while responding to Elias' glare with "I see." Upon informing the girls that they were to review what they had learned while he took a break from the role of invincible object and got himself unwound.

The trip to the dragon sanctuary was largely uneventful aside from the initial surprise at Drake's ability to handle rough terrain, which he attributed to being something that was largely necessary during his time fighting a war which he refused to go into detail about. Upon arriving at the dragon sanctuary, however, Drake's eyes suddenly had a look of hunger to them. Upon seeing the stranger in their midst, the dragons immediately swarmed Drake, who just laughed the laugh of someone who knew what he'd gotten himself into and thoroughly enjoyed it. Drake proceeded to spend the entire visit entertaining the hatchlings, conversing with the older dragons and Lindel, and just relaxing. Of course, things couldn't remain this peaceful forever, as disaster strikes in one of the worst ways possible.

Drake is missing one morning, and the only traces of where he might have gone are some splatters of blood just outside the dragon sanctuary. Otherwise, Drake is gone without a trace.


	12. Xordrayk Compendium: Page 3

The Mecha Xordrayk

Also known as Ezekiel Wrenn, Talon, GX, or Glitch, the Mecha Xordrayk is an anomalous creature, being quite literally a sentient glitch in the fabric of reality itself. Representing programming errors in reality's coding, the Mecha Xordrayk takes the incapability of Xordrayks to stay dead after being killed to the next step by being almost impossible to kill to begin with! In addition to this, the Glitch effectively spits in defiance at the way things should be by doing the improbable and at times being totally inept at actions which should otherwise be no trouble at all for conventional beings.

Xordrayk type: Unknown  
Pokemon Type: Psychic/Electric  
Yu-Gi-Oh! Attribute/Type: WIND/Cyberse  
Augments: Phantom Lantern Ring (DC Comics), Unknown  
Prefered Equipment: Draconis Sniper Sword, Black Crescent Cluster Rocket Launchers, Duel Shield, D-Wheel/Duel Runner  
Abilities: Reality Glitch  
Personality: Quirky  
Dueling Deck: Skyfang Brigade Aerial Assault/Red Archfiend Resonator/Gizmek ex Machina  
Natural Appearance: Bipedal fox with lizard tail and hawk wings colored black with iridescent green. Eyes are Emerald green/silver depending on gender  
Alternate Appearances: Tervardi coloured black with green markings and silver eyes (Female tervardi)/Red-tailed Hawk tervardi with green-brown eyes (Male tervardi)/tall with Xordrayk coloration (female human)/Tall, blonde, green-brown eyes, light skin, black and green mechanical limbs(male human cyborg)  
Specialization: Order and Chaos  
Damage Type: Psychic


	13. Chapter 9: Dragons and Tragedy

Amber is not your average human. If anything, Ambera-eth-re is actually very odd indeed, with a Gift for magic and speaking with animals, as a result making her affinity with dragons only slightly less weird than her position as a Magus of Altra: Weather witch. A position she absolutely loathed. She loathed how she was forced to prolong a war in which her fellow Magi were taking advantage of her dragon brethren to bring unnatural youth to themselves and those they favored. So it stood to reason that Amber took to using illusions and glamours to walk the Altran Dragon Court, tending any dragons who didn't have any dragon boys to care for them. Unfortunately, Amber only saw this as little more than a way to go to a tavern without actually going to one, as the dragons in the Dragon Court were always fed with a particular plant that made them the draconic equivalent to being drunk: _tala_. If Amber wanted to actually have an intelligent conversation with one of her brethren, she would leave Altra City entirely to seek out her nest mate, an unusually intelligent swamp dragon she called Draco. For all that Draco was a swamp dragon, he bore an unusual scale coloration which made him look like a colorful sunset in comparison to his swamp-colored fellows, a trait which made his appearances at Altra's Dragon Court all the more confusing, as he actually made weekly visits to supply the dragons at the Court with fresh kills. Draco was in fact intelligent enough to smell the difference between meat with and without _tala_, as he'd tried the stuff once, and had immediately sought out the Winged Ones at the local temple with a request to accelerate his digestive processes until it was out of his system upon feeling the effects of it. He'd refused to eat _tala_ laced meat ever since. Funnily enough, Draco would actually ensure that Amber was well received by his "courtly" brethren, as he brooked no tolerance for his nest-mate getting snubbed or otherwise injured by a careless or uncaring dragon, as Draco saw humans as necessary in ensuring a steady supply of fresh meat during lean times where hunting was scarce. As such, Draco was noted even by his nest-mate as being unusually intelligent to the point where he could almost be human for all that he appeared a dragon. It was through this human-like intelligence that Draco reasoned out that he needed to intervene when something strange found itself in his nest-mate's den at the Dragon Court, with his nest-mate nowhere to be found.

With a roar, Draco dove in for a landing in the Dragon Court, easily scattering the crowd of humans and dragons with his roar alone and scattering any stragglers with his landing. It quickly became apparent what the ruckus was about, as there was a lone human (?) laying in the vacant pen where he usually slept in when he'd decided to stay overnight at the Dragon Court, which appeared to be in preparation for a new permanent occupant. Ignoring the changes to his overnight chambers as Amber had teasingly referred to the pen in favor of the strange human, Draco committed this human's description to memory before using a fore-claw to carefully take them out of the sand wallow (an affectation Draco envied the desert dragons for, he'd had to bully the pen into his overnight usage from the resident Overseer,) and place them on the floor to keep them from getting burned. Of course, that is when Draco noticed why everyone else had been mobbing this particular individual: This very definitely male stranger was a foreigner from an unknown land.

Ambera-eth-re had finally managed to extricate herself from the Magus' Tower on the hill and a forced court meeting with her "fellow" Magi. Needless to say, the only individuals she found fondness for were the royal Heirs and Heiresses, people she dared to say she actually enjoyed the company of. It was with an exasperated sigh and an expression of relief that she changed into her favorite clothing to play the role of "Dragon Courtesan" which she cherished more than anything else. A particular bit of gossip had made off with her attention during court with the humans who couldn't be bothered with the needs of the common folk. A Jouster of dragons had arrived in Altra and saved a Fledgling from the Temple who had been caught among the swamp lizards and river horses when the Jouster arrived. In fact, Amber was wondering about whether to introduce herself to the new Jouster when Draco's challenge roar rang out over the compound. Wondering who'd made the mistake of getting Draco miffed this time, Amber rushed to the desert dragon pens, and found herself cutting a swath of her own through the crowd of panicking humans and dragons. The Overseer noticed and grabbed her by the shoulder and exclaimed to her that a stranger from an unknown land has invaded the Dragon Court to assassinate the High Court, and then continued running towards the Jousters' Compound. Amber shook her head and continued moving towards a now very concerned Draco and a pen which appeared to be in the process of being prepared for use by a permanent resident. It soon became apparent that whoever this strange foreigner was, he was not in any position to much of of anything, let alone assassinate a majority of the High Court as Amber might like. Draco knew as much as she did at that point, and noticed that the pen in question was Draco's overnight pen. Amber pulled the man over to a piece of shade in the enclosure so she could examine the man more thoroughly with Draco's assistance. Before any examinations could begin, the sensation of something brushing against her mind sent her into a mental threat stance for the duration of a mere instant before Amber mentally lunged and grappled the offending party, ruthlessly pillaging the fool's mind for what was really going on. After identifying the offender as "Zordrake" (truly a strange name indeed), Amber continued her examination more gently, determining that she should extract Zordrake's language from his mind, very nearly swooning from his memories pertaining to a young female dragon fledgling whom he called Winterhart, as the girl was just that adorable in spite of being quite clearly a mountain dragon of some kind. As such, Amber tried a phrase in this old man's tongue, only to botch several attempts and ultimately give it up as a lost cause, deciding in favor of serving as translator.

Having been obliterated after a dismemberment left Zordrake hurting like he was little more than a single large bruise as a result. Acquiring the native tongue of the lady who'd made the bold move of trying to mentally maul him to death without her knowledge left him feeling mentally exhausted. Watching said woman stumble constantly over herself in a number of aborted attempts to actually speak in his native tongue left him feeling like a million bucks, funnily enough. Thanks to the bleed-over from her telepathic abilities, Zordrake was able to glean the woman's identity and his present location, in addition to several other things which he filed away for later. The woman finally allowed him to get up, and as such, Zordrake was glad for the chance to explore Altra City. A strange scent stopped him dead in his tracks before he could do more than get up. One of the local Magi had appeared on scene. Ambera-eth-re, furious, told the man that she barely tolerated his presence on the hill, and she was a breath away from letting him slide down a dragon's gullet. The Magus laughed, saying she needn't bother, the three of them were dead anyway. That triggered something in Zordrake that he was helpless to stop: The revelation of his bestial nature. Zordrake lunged at the Magus, who summoned a bolt of lightning to strike Zordrake, Amber, and her dragon dead. Zordrake loosed a tongue of flame upon being struck full in the chest, turning the Magus into a screaming pyre as Amber and Draco were electrocuted to death. Zordrake closed his eyes, hoping for oblivion to come with the inevitable darkness. Zordrake's hope was in vain.

Ambera-eth-re felt her body burning, and she immediately sought the nearest sufficiently large source of cold water to dunk herself in to counteract the burning sensations. Upon emerging from the water, Amber found herself having to draw her sword in response to foolish bandits who'd snuck into town, no doubt sent by Galbatorix or his Forsworn to kill her and steal Draco's Eldunari. Brisingrblaka blazed to life as Amber shouted its name, slashing through bandits with her unique Dragon Rider's blade, whose name literally translated to "fire flapper", as the sword was named phoenix in the ancient and binding tongue of the elves. However, for all that Amber was gifted with elven physical abilities, she was still overwhelmed by the overwhelming numbers the bandits had brought with them. This is it, she thought, I'm going to lose Draco and be nothing more than a carcass on the streets of Teirm. And as if to spite the thought, a warrior wielding a pair of swords with blades of lightning came to her aid, cutting through her attackers with minimal effort. He dispelled the blade of one of his peculiar weapons and placed it as his belt, only to create and lob a fireball at the bandits, scattering them. Amber could only go slack-jawed at this display as this man hadn't used the ancient language at all! While the display had certainly been effective at scattering her attackers, Amber was trying to wrap her head around someone being able to do something she knew was impossible. He then turned to her and spoke into her mind, conveying images and concepts in a massive flood, with words to accompany the staggering amount of content, which seemed to indicate that he'd taken a risk in using that fireball, and expended a massive amount of energy in having done so. Amber realized at once that he was asking for language lessons and lessons in magic. Amber mentally nudged Draco, and had him dump their combined knowledge of the ancient language into this poor man's head. He promptly collapsed from the strain, unconscious.

Zordrake expected that he was going to have to gain the local language somehow, just not by suddenly having it dumped into his head while he was recovering from the strain of creating a showy take on lobbing a live hand grenade into a group of people who'd wanted him dead via lobbed fireball. Knowing now that his lightsabers were best left sheathed from here on out, Zordrayk was glad he didn't make the mistake of pulling out any of his guns. As such, Zordrake knew he needed to get a weapon he could use no matter where he was at. Being as refined as he was, Zordrake wasn't about to settle for anything less than a sword, forged to fit him like a worn glove without being over-complicated beyond a particular special feature he had in mind. Now realizing he'd had a bunch of general memories dumped into his head, Zordrake realized as a result that he should probably ask to see Rhunon-elda for a number of different items aside from just a sword. And before he did anything else, Zordrake needed to do something about this infernal headache now plaguing his being.

Amber, being of noble birth and having had the odd experience of being born and raised as a dragon rider, knew for a fact that this man was anything but ordinary. Which is why she almost didn't drop her jaw when he asked to see Rhunon for a order of several items to be made at her forge. Amber reckoned up the days, and decided that they would indeed have plenty of time to make for Ellesmera without issue. Just one problem- "How good are you at the roof top road?" The man smiled and retorted "How fast are you?" Amber sighed. The road to Ellesmera would be an interesting one.

Shruikan's roar shattered the peace of their run early in the morning as they skirted past Gil'ead, with Zordrake thinking that he'd better pick up the pace, warning Amber that he was thinking of doing something really incredibly stupid within the next few minutes before consciously switching to his beast form for more speed. Zordrake spared a thought to marvel at a language that physically rendered the speaker incapable of untruth. The thought then occurred to him to simply try and buy time to prepare for the inevitable end he and Amber would eventually face. Therefore, Zordrake decided to try something he very well felt was abnormally stupid. He was going to talk Galbatorix into allowing them to reach Ellesmera unmolested, and to let them make their final preparations before he did cut them down. Zordrake did exactly that after slipping into the Ethereal Plane from the ground to emerge back in the physical plane on Shruikan's back in front of Galbatorix. Zordrake was surprised and relieved that the man agreed to let his group return from Du Weldenvarden, The Warding Forest, before continuing to pursue them. He resolved to learn a few things in that time. But first, he would need to inform Amber and Draco of their grace period.

It took three fortnights to travel from Gilead to Ellesmera, during which time, Amber discovered their timing could not have been _worse_, as everything seemed to be determined that Zordrake and herself shouldn't reach Ellesmera, with Zordrake foiling every attempt to forestall their progress in turn. Amber found herself being carried like a kidnapped maiden (let's be honest, she wasn't even close) by Zordrake (who had managed to weather an unholy amount of seduction attempts from Amber without even skipping a beat to her bewilderment), leaping from branch to branch in the tops of the ancient trees (These trees are tall as mountains, mind) straight into Ellesmera, where Zordrake finally allowed Amber to her own two feet (how'd she get bewitched while he didn't?). Zordrake explained that he was only barely resisting the bewitchment the whole time since the Dagshelgr started. Mouth agape, Amber realized she had severely miscounted the days and a strange creature was approaching Zordrake. Amber thought it at first to be an elf who sung themselves into the fashion of certain insects, but Zordrake's vocal recognition made Amber realize that the two of them were in grave danger, for the one approaching was an Epileainder, an elven creature which shared many insects mating and reproductive behaviors. Amber's realization came too late, as Zordrake had already embraced the foul creature, who uttered in an alien language neither Amber nor Draco recognized a string of sentences which earned a response in the same language from Zordrake! The two engaged themselves in a conversation which abruptly ended when the Epileainder gestured toward Amber, causing Zordrake to face palm in response. Switching back to the ancient language, Zordrake told Amber "This is my wife, named Sarah Tiraius. She is unfamiliar with this language at present, something I shall mitigate shortly. She and I have many sorrows, joys, and other experiences to share between us, but require someplace private to be when we do." Zordrake added mind-to-mind _I will explain later, but this is something that I need to do in private._ Amber could only acquiesce.

In the morning, Zordrake awoke to find Sarah had him in a terrified embrace, tears streaming from her compound bug eyes, still blind from her sleeping state. Zordrake gave his wife a mental nudge, waking her instantly. In an instant, Zordrake knew what had been plaguing his wife's dreams that night upon her waking. Sensing Amber and Draco drawing near with sword in hand, Zordrake immediately warned Amber to stay her blade and wait outside the enclosure in a tone which must have shook Amber pretty badly, as she stuttered something about just making sure he was safe before doing as she was told. Sensing Sarah was scared of him at the moment, Zordrake groaned. Blast that fool Marik to the deepest pits of Hell. After checking what form he was in (the bestial form he liked so little), Zordrake, in Huttese, told Sarah that no matter what he looked like, he would always look out for his family, period. Saying it out loud just seemed the right thing to do in this instance, and Zordrake repeated the phrase in his native tongue and hers as well to reassure her that he was still the same man who'd needed her help all those years ago. Zordrake extracted himself carefully from his wife's embrace while adding in the ancient language to ensure that it happened, "My vows to you shall hold true until and unless you rescind those vows, on pain of death should I ever knowingly breach them without your permission." Sarah went slack-jawed upon hearing that last, knowing based on Amber's memories how binding his words were intended to be, her mind blank from the shock of knowing everything he'd been through, in addition to the fact that he was effectively declaring that he could not defy her will without suffering himself. Suddenly unsure of himself, Zordrake asked if it was possible to ensure their legacy would be carried on by the next generation, in spite of his inability to ensure their son was safe. In response, Sarah abruptly ceased the mental contact, looking thoughtful. After a moment, significantly more confident now, she resumed the contact, and stabbed her tail into Zordrake's abdomen, extracting it from him slowly, reminding Zordrake in an excruciating fashion how deadly his wife's stinger was. Sarah silently informed Zordrake that he was to share a bed with her when he'd concluded his business for the day, and not get sidetracked, lest she make that night very painful.

Amber wasn't surprised to see Zordrake emerge from the enclosure clutching his gut with Sarah in tow. She was surprised to hear Zordrake say he'd deserved this one, refusing to elaborate. Amber then proceeded to ask Zordrake if he was out of his god-forsaken mind at the top of her lungs, making no bones about the what she thought about his actions in general regarding Sarah. Sarah shoved Zordrake harshly at the small of his back, to the surprisingly hilarious spectacle of Zordrake shouting "Yiouch!" as he was forced to straighten out his posture and rub his back from the unexpected action as Sarah chastised Zordrake for looking like he'd gotten a stomach ache when he didn't have one, catching Amber off guard as a result. Having been appropriately chastised for his misbehavior, Zordrake formally introduced Sarah and Amber, something Zordrake admitted privately to Amber was merely a pleasantry for the sake of appearances, as he asked Amber out loud why she was making such an inquiry as to his sanity in a tone that suggested that she had asked something else entirely in a normal conversational tone as opposed to the outburst she'd actually made. Amber rolled her eyes and asked what he knew about Epileainders, and in so doing, noticed the saddeningly substantial audience the trio of humanoids were accruing. Seemingly oblivious to the gathering crowd, Zordrake proceeded to go into a lecture about how Epileainders come in several different varieties, with a colonial society not unlike ants or bees, explaining that Epileainder Queens, being the most intelligent and in possession of actual sentience, while still Epileainders at their core, were still sentient beings with personalities as varied as what humans possessed.

Zordrake stopped abruptly as he was about to go into detail about Epileainder mating behaviours, pupils dilating to pinpricks as he turned to face a particular direction. Amber, inquisitive, looked were Zordrake was facing, and only saw elves. Focusing on Zordrake's viewpoint, Amber still couldn't see anything so significant as to halt Zordrake in the middle of one of his educational tangents, only an elf female walking towards their odd little group, with the others making a path for the woman to pass. Zordrake abruptly got down on one knee in a knight's bow, regarding the woman as he would a king or queen. Taking a closer look at the woman in question, Amber finally realized who this particular elf was. Zordrake stunned Amber into inaction with his next words, however. "You wear the aura of royalty well, Your Majesty. I ask your hospitality, humbled by your notice of our little group, and your forgiveness, for intruding in your realm during Dagshelgr so rudely." The words were spoken without sarcasm or snark, only solemnity and the deepest of respect for station. Amber was surprised that Zordrake would ever show respect for anyone he did not know personally, and for the fact that Zordrake had addressed someone Amber knew did not hold that much authority in elf society to begin with. As that someone was a very dear friend of Draco and Amber's: Islanzadi Droettning.

Zordrake knew royalty when he sensed it. Even more, Zordrake knew when such a monarch who could only be won over by showing an appropriate amount of respect. This was all too true with the elven woman now standing in front of him. Zordrake left his mind open for her examination if she so chose while he awaited her response. He was virtually quaking in his boots when a response did come. "You, who are ignorant of our ways, show a surprising grasp of your situation indeed. Rise, and face me as an equal, warrior of another realm." Zordrake shakily rose to his feet, assisted by Sarah in the process, and responded "I am honored to be granted such a rank. But I shall defer to you as my superior, as while I am considered old by human standards, I find myself among the youngest and least experienced here, in spite of mine own unique experiences, which are not so unique in and of themselves. I express a wish to truly earn the honor bestowed upon me, not by my words alone, but rather, by my actions." Zordrake knew that he was treading a treacherously thin line here, and wanted very much to collapse where he stood. He stood firm, however, as he didn't want to leave the wrong impression. As a whole, he was genuinely terrified for his life, and he didn't want to break promises if he could help it. The woman smiled. "Then you are forgiven your intrusion, and welcome in my hall." With a flourish, the woman turned on her heel and left, signalling the crowd's dispersal. Only then did Zordrake allow himself to collapse. And collapse he did. Into a dead faint.

After the spectacle of Zordrake fainting after Islanzadi relieved him of her audience, Amber immediately had someone conduct Zordrake and his wife to their quarters for the remainder of their stay while Amber herself caught up with Islanzadi to greet her old friend properly, a gesture Islanzadi was quick to take advantage of. After the initial greeting which firmly established Amber as Islanzadi's superior in spite of the fact that Amber was younger than her good friend by a good amount, Amber cut to the chase. "How are you truly?" Islanzadi considered the question for a moment and quickly caught up Amber with everything that had happened since they had last parted ways. Amber quickly learned that the Dragon Rider known as Brom had lost his dragon, Saffira, to Morzan of the Forsworn. He'd then helped form a resistance group called the Varden after slaying Morzan in retribution for Saffira. The last that Islanzadi had heard was that the Varden had recovered a dragon egg from Galbatorix's clutches. Islanzadi finished her tale by revealing that her husband had perished in battle and asked Amber where she'd found her compatriot, before finally noticing where her friend's attention had wandered. Amber was more curious about the child peering curiously into the room, prompting Islanzadi to beckon the child into the room by name. "Come in, Arya." Amber was enraptured, not for the first time, by the beauty of elf children, as Amber reminded Islanzadi how envious she was of the elves and their uncanny ability to produce children who were unfailingly beautiful by human standards. Islanzadi chastised her friend in good humor, as Amber's envy was thankfully a joke by this point, informing her friend that she has been away from Ellesmera for too long.

Zordrake awoke to find the woman from earlier watching him with curiosity in her gaze. And she cut to the chase by introducing herself as Queen Islanzadi, and expressed a desire to know the reason for his visit and why he collapsed after she had left the clearing. Zordrake humored Islanzadi. "To answer the last question first, I actually would have collapsed sooner if not for the fact that I didn't want to leave a bad impression. I was quaking in my boots badly enough that I actually needed the help getting to my feet when you'd requested it. I was flat out terrified, and because I thought there was a good chance that I would die and break a few promises I'd made as a result. And I pride myself on keeping my word when it matters. If anything, take it as a compliment. It's rare for anyone, royal or otherwise, to leave me fearing for my life. Amber's probably already told you, but my name is Zordrake Infernus. Even I'll admit it's an odd name. And lastly, I came here to request the aid of the local blacksmith. I specifically wish to either gain or personally forge a strongly reliable sword and several trinkets. The sword is for myself, as I bear items too dangerous for extended use here as my only actual weapons, whereas the trinkets are for my children at home. What I have in mind requires a skilled blacksmith to forge, and Amber directed us here. As for the Epileainder, I was quite surprised to see her here. The reason why: She's my wife. Name of Sarah Tiraius." Islanzadi listened through Zordrake's whirlwind answer, hands folded in her lap. Islanzadi then leaned forward and told Zordrake "I wish to see you at dinner in my home, if you are willing, Zordrake." Zordrake simply asked what time.

Dinner with Islanzadi proved to be hearty fare in both food and conversation, not to mention productive in establishing Zordrake as something of an authority on Epileainders, as well as allowing Zordrake to make arrangements to see how badly out of practice he was in blade-to-blade combat, start lessons in learning his way around the forge courtesy of the Master Smith of the elves, whom Zordrake immediately took to calling Rhuenon-ebrithil upon learning that she had sworn off making weapons entirely after the treachery of the Forsworn. On inquiry, Zordrake told Rhuenon that if she would not forge the sword he needed, he would do so himself, for he could not and would not use sorcery to win fights that were supposed to be won by the blade. In response to this, Rhuenon gave in to Zordrake's unspoken request, knowing from earlier conversation his determination to make good on his promises. Zordrake quickly found out that in his first interaction with Islanzadi, the elves respected him for his sheer will power, to keep standing in spite of overwhelming fear, to keep his weakness from being known until his safety was assured, and his openness when questioned about his motives. Zordrake was relieved that the elves correctly attributed his actions to his determination that he would protect those he cared about most. As such, when Zordrake returned to the place where he would be staying (He'd never manage to get used to the idea of living like an owl in the trunk of a tree), Sarah warned him that preparations were ready, and that he would be getting the "baby bird treatment" tonight. Zordrake didn't bother asking, and found himself responding unpredictably to something in his wife's scent as she drew close to him while he got ready to engage in the one activity he'd sworn off doing without his wife's permission. He didn't really get to be consciously aware of what happened that night at all.

Sarah looked and felt peaceful when Zordrake had checked on her after waking up that morning, or so he'd said when Amber asked. Sarah and Zordrake certainly acted for all the world like they were a couple content with their lot, although Amber suspected that Zordrake was still hiding something from her, and was apparently determined that no one discover the secrets he hid. Aside from greeting her in the morning, Zordrake went straight to Rhuenon's forge, and devoted his time to mastering the art of using raw materials to create magical items. Amber decided to try and find out what was going on by speaking with the only one who could possibly know Zordrake well enough: Sarah Tiraius. Someone Amber did not expect to be very forthcoming at all, given how Sarah was an Epileainder after all, in addition to Amber's prejudices regarding Epileainders in general, Amber fully expected that she would have to work her way into Sarah's good graces before any information would be forthcoming. Amber quickly found a caveat to this particular endeavor in the form of a particular issue: she had to find Sarah first. Unfortunately, it seemed for all the world like Sarah had disappeared without a trace, while someone just as outlandish as Zordrake was was now present in Ellesmera. Upon inquiry, no elf had seen Sarah after last night, when she and Zordrake had retired to their quarters. Grasping at straws, Amber decided that she would instead make preparations for the Agaeti Bloedhren, while she still could. Just one problem. How was she supposed to keep her head on straight for long enough to get anything done when the twin problems that were Sarah's disappearance and Zordrake's past kept her so on edge? Amber was about to start agonizing about the fact that she had yet another impossible mystery she wanted desperately wanted to solve but couldn't when she experienced a pain in her mind so sharp it came with the sensation of being bitten hard enough to crush bone on the shoulder and the physical pain that entailed. Reacting out of instinct now, Amber automatically lashed out mentally and physically at her attacker, only for an all too familiar voice to start bellowing her head, mentally deafening her in the process. Now on the ground with the sensation of a dragon's fore-claw on top of her, Amber found herself looking into the eyes of the outlandish stranger, who was holding her hand in a particular gesture while annoyance and anger burned her eyes. The woman then growled something about remembering from whence one came and who one is, and then released Amber before stalking off to Rhuenon's forge. Draco spoke up then. _You really should remember that you carry me in your pocket in the literal sense nowadays._ Amber scoffed and shot back _You never offered your infinite wisdom before. Always waiting for me to ask for your help._ Draco countered _And who was it who said they could do everything on their own without help?_ Amber kept quiet, knowing Draco was all too correct. Amber asked Draco if he had any ideas on how to deal with her dilemma. Draco, as always, gave advice of the oddest sort, at least in Amber's opinion. _Ask the stranger's forgiveness, and then introduce yourself properly. Befriending her could do you a world of good, and may even help you understand Zordrake as a result._

Zordrake mastered the practice of the forge in three weeks, learning from Rhuenon-ebrithil that she had enough of a strange metal called brightsteel for a final blade, it just needed to be forged into the appropriate shape. Zordrake was surprised that the process of becoming a master smith had only taken three weeks when he was sure it should have taken him months, if not years, to accomplish such a milestone. And yet, here he was, remarking on the days accomplishments with his mastery of the forge among them to his wife, who had taken on her togruta form after that night they had spent together. Sarah then responded with something that pulled Zordrake's attention to the present. "Sorry, love, I was woolgathering again. Could you repeat that last sentence?" Sarah rolled her eyes, but humored her husband all the same. "I said that I've been becoming good friends with Ambera-eth-re. There an issue?" Zordrake quickly responded "No, it's just unexpected, is all. What've you two been talking about?" Sarah replied "You," with a deadpan look on her face. Zordrake stared. Then, after about three minutes had passed, Zordrake's face flashed an expression of unholy mischief as Sarah's only warning before Zordrake struck her hard. Before Sarah knew what was happening, she was on the floor, laughing hysterically as Zordrake tickled her mercilessly while straddling her to keep her from escaping. It was in this situation that Islanzadi, Amber, and Arya all found the couple in as they walked in the door. By this point, Sarah was laughing helplessly and asking Zordrake to stop tickling her before she busted a gut so bad she'd be a week in recovery. Amber suffering a laugh attack of her own was what finally brought an end to Zordrake's momentary mischief.

After everyone managed to settle down, and Zordrake confessed that episode was something he'd been waiting to do since he'd been reunited with Sarah, Zordrake warned everyone that what he was about to do was very likely to color their perception towards the darker end of things. What happened next was unexpected to say the least. Amber was stunned to see Zordrake change as if he was dispelling an illusion, revealing the truth underneath. Amber sensed Islanzadi tense, while Sarah showed no reaction whatsoever. Zordrake's true guise was that of a vulpine creature, not unlike what an elf would do to their body if obsessed enough with foxes to sing their body into. Zordrake's eyes, once brown but now clearly emerald in color, betrayed a different picture, one of man turned feral beast. Sarah's lack of reaction told Amber that Sarah already knew of this, and was waiting for those of Alagaesia to make their full reactions known. Arya was clearly afraid of the creature now before her, and worse, the creature knew her fear. Before anyone could react, however, the creature darted toward Arya, stopping as his face came to be right beside Arya's. The creature growled, and Arya reacted by saying "W-wait, there must be some mistake-" only for the creature to startle everyone by saying in a sinister, gravelly low alto "There is no mistake. The undertones in your scent match some of hers," pointing at Amber as he said this. The creature then continued speaking, this time to all present. "I may be a mere beast, but I am nothing if not an intelligent beast. We have been here almost a month, and Galbatorix awaits us beyond the forest's edge. To keep him waiting would only serve to provoke him into unwanted action, so let us begin our final preparations." The beast then turned and butted his head against Arya's chest. After a moment, Arya started scratching the creature behind the ears, to be rewarded with a sigh of contentment from the creature. Amber smiled. For all that this beast was terrifying to behold, his acting like a dog receiving exactly the kind of attention he was looking for actually made the beast... decidedly less so. But, as the creature himself had reminded everyone, final preparations still needed to be made.

Draco was relieved. Zordrake had finally gotten around to making that sword he'd wanted so badly, along with a surprising amount of trinkets to take home with him which did who knows what. Amber, Zordrake, and Sarah had all made their gifts for the Agaeti Bloedhren, with the last two presenting a vow of eternal commitment as their gift, reminding the elves of the old times when love was just as much a pursuit as anything else for them, poor creatures. Now, however, it seemed that Amber had one last thing to take care of before the trio finally left Ellesmera. "Zordrake, why do you travel?" Zordrake had been conversing with his wife about what and how to pack, working by process of elimination when Amber's query shattered the peace. Zordrake, oddly enough, looked glad for the interruption, as it seemed that he and Sarah seemed at this point to be arguing for the sake of argument. Zordrake was silent for several minutes, thinking carefully about his answer. Finally, he said "I embark upon this journey to find myself again. My apologies for not making this clear when our journey began. And Amber, you reminded me of something I should pack for safekeeping. Your and Draco's Eldunari. Both of them. And your sword," just as Islanzadi walked in the door to check on the trio. Draco, Amber, and Islanzadi, all three, were understandably perplexed about this request, with Amber being the first to speak. "Draco's Eldunari, sure. Brisingrblaka, go right on ahead. But how am I supposed to give you my Eldunari when such a thing doesn't even exist!?" Zordrake's expression remained unchanged as he fired off his side of the argument. "Think back, Amber. To the very first years of your life. The memories you dumped into my head seem to indicate that you were always the odd one out. The one who was 'sister to a dragon'. My personal experience with you has been 'for one so strange to me, why does she remind me of one of my kids?' That was the first day. Then, when you made your first seduction attempt on me, it dawned on me. Why did you remind me of my daughter, Ali? Because of your scent. Literally, your scent was what caused me to think of you in that way. Yours is not the scent of a human, elf, or even Epileainder. No, yours is the scent of a dragon wearing the guise of a dragon-marked human! Your blood is draconic! By process of elimination, you, yourself, must therefore have an Eldunari, must have in general a dragon's physiology! How else could you spontaneously use spells of such great power so young? Because you're a dragon of course! Therefore, have Draco instruct you in what to do, and we will truly be ready once your sword, Eldunari, and Draco's Eldunari are safely stowed in one of my packs. I don't know about you, Amber, but I think we can afford to rob Galbatorix of not just one Eldunari, but a powerful sword and two Eldunari to boot! And I'll need to update some of my equipment anyway, so this'll allow you and Draco to continue existing outside of Galbatorix's control, and quite possibly net the two of you new bodies to boot! It's perfect for starting anew, even! And before you even start, yes, I know this means you might not see Islanzadi or her daughter again, but this is denying Galbatorix something he already has an over-abundance of anyway, and giving the two of you an opportunity to fly again! Weigh the options, what choice do you really have? And besides, if I was trying to make the races of Alagaesia bend to my will, and amass enough power to do so, then what better way than to collect the intact Eldunari of dragons whose bodies were slain? Why else do you think Galbatorix was after you so fiercely, Amber?" Draco had no choice but to look at Zordrake's impeccable logic in absolute awe. _So that's what Galbatorix was doing this whole time! Enslave all dragons to your will, and the rest of Alagaesia would follow!_ And thus, Draco helped Amber with her final preparations as best he could.

Zordrake was confident that he'd managed to outsmart Galbatorix this time. By travelling directly to Illirea from Ellesmera via the Etherial plane, cutting travel time drastically as a result, Zordrake, Amber and Sarah were able to get themselves into place easily, simply by exiting the Ethereal plane in Galbatorix's throne room. Once again, just like his first encounter with Shruikan, Zordrake could not help but marvel at this mountain of a sky predator. As such, Zordrake made sure that he'd gotten all of his pieces properly put into place before making his presence known in Galbatorix's court. "Galbatorix! As promised, we have returned! And I come bearing a special gift: the Dragon Rider, Amber!" This plan involved Zordrake giving Amber a chance to see first hand how helpless she really was against Galbatorix, while ensuring she actually lived to tell of her folly while staying herself in the process. Unfortunately for Amber, she wouldn't accept anything other than a chance to prove that because she was older than Galbatorix, she was better in that he couldn't possibly pull out any trick's that she hadn't seen before, and wouldn't hear of any arguments to the contrary. Thus, the plan was for Zordrake to remain just long enough to collect the bounty on Amber's head, then Amber would break free of the bindings and cause enough of a disturbance to allow Zordrake to slip back into the Ethereal Plane and hustle his loot to a safe location while Amber proved her mettle in a sorcerous duel with Galbatorix. Of course, Zordrake had enough experience of his own to realize that Galbatorix could very well end up disrupting their plans, thereby making escape that much more difficult. So Zordrake had one of his pistols ready to shoot Amber in the head should things get messy. Galbatorix, rather visibly caught off guard by this intrusion, replied in a voice that clearly commanded many "Talon, I did not expect you to deliver so quickly, or even at all." Zordrake replied "I prefer to make good on my promises when possible. I promised you a Dragon Rider, therefore, I have brought you a Rider. She can reach you warm, or she can be brought to you cold, it's your choice. I don't care either way, so long as I'm getting paid." Galbatorix had recovered from Zordrake's entrance by this time, and shouted, "Durza!" Appearing as if conjured, the Shade Durza materialized at Galbatorix's side and bowed. Zordrake caught Galbatorix telling Durza to clear a space for a duel to commence, and to bring Zordrake a sword from the armory. Durza did exactly that, vanishing, and returning to the throne-room with what was clearly a Dragon Rider's blade. Durza then announced that Galbatorix was about to engage in a duel with the Dragon Rider, and as the courtiers made space for the duel to take place, Durza approached Amber and Zordrake, requesting that Amber be freed from her bonds for the duel. Zordrake gave Amber the signal, and the ropes binding her fell to the floor, while Amber made a show of rubbing her wrists. Durza then presented Zordrake with the Rider's blade, a startling sapphire in color in it's entirety, as his payment for retrieving the Rider and offering this opportunity for his "king". Zordrake bowed gracefully as he accepted the blade, internally relieved that he would not have to try and slay this Shade and instead of staying to watch the duel when offered by Durza, Zordrake simply replied "Sorcerous duels are won in the fraction of a second most times. Unless those two decide to drag this out in a showy performance, I don't think very much will happen. With that, I shall take my leave. No disrespect to the king of course, but I believe he may have a little trouble with that one." And Zordrake was then escorted out of the castle by a pair of guards, while Amber managed to drag the duel quite significantly by stripping out of her clothing before even allowing the duel to commence, showing that she had nothing to hide. This tactic actually gave Zordrake enough time to duck into a nearby ally before pulling a disappearing act which sent him all the way to where Sarah had been hiding. The last thing before Sarah and Zordrake went through Zordrake's first Gate they experienced of Alagaesia was Amber's defeat at Galbatorix's hands, culminating in the latest of Zordrake's victories achieved by the enemy having the audacity to play straight into Zordrake's hand.

* * *

And done! New course record for number of characters, but that remains insignificant in the face of the up and coming chapters! This chapter doesn't quite settle in one spot, and I'm just now realizing as I'm writing this that the way I write reflects how life can end up being: A number of random events brought together in some semblance of order to tell a tale. Sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's bat guano crazy, and sometimes it just ends up being somewhere in between. With that said, we will eventually be looking at Zordrake's adventures around the time of the Clone Wars and how he interacted with the Jedi everyone knows and loves, as well as how he came to meet with the love of his life. However, I will hold that off for another chapter. See you guys in the next Chapter!


	14. Xordrayk Compendium: Page 4

The White Xordrayk

A minor character who originally showed up in Velgarth and reappeared on Shadow Island as a sort of mentor to Zordrake and his Velgarthian friends only to turn out to be an aging and content Zordrake in his twilight years, the White Zordrayk truly is a mysterious figure no one really knows about. Should a demoness called Vendtra appear in a given dimension, chances are the White Xordrayk is soon to follow.

Xordrayk Type: Unknown  
Pokemon Type: Unknown  
Yu-Gi-Oh Attribute/Type: Unknown  
Augments: Unknown  
Abilities: Unknown  
Personality: Sage-like  
Preferred Equipment: Hooded cloak, Staff  
Natural appearance: Basically the Black Xordrayk if his fur was varying shades of white, with a white hooded cloak to match and startling ice blue eyes.  
Alternate appearance: Unknown  
Role: Knowledge and the unknown  
Damage Type: Unknown


End file.
